How To Be an Effective Military Innovation Champion

Col George M. Dougherty, USAF

The U.S. military is working to enhance its methods for fostering technological innovations, particularly disruptive or “game-changing” innovations that can alter the character of military operations and provide sustained advantages over potential adversaries. However, no technological innovation is inherently disruptive. A military technology can only achieve disruptive impact after it achieves institutional support and is combined with complementary innovations in military doctrine, organization, training and other supporting areas. Many studies of military innovation have found that the difference between an innovation that achieves revolutionary impact and a promising invention that languishes in obscurity is often the engagement of an effective military champion.

A Unique Role

Effective military innovation requires many factors, including supportive processes, resources and leadership. Effective innovation champions are only one factor, but one that is timeless and within the power of many acquisition professionals to help provide.

A military innovation champion is a leader, at any level, who takes it upon him- or herself to help build the institutional support for an innovation and catalyze the supporting activities needed to advance it from a concept to a fielded military capability. It’s rarely an assigned role. There is little formal training. Many emerge from acquisition positions, where exposure to new technologies may be greatest. But champions also may step forward from positions leading operations, on Service or joint staffs, or other functions. They are self-selected, and their actions usually are “above and beyond” their formal duties. A formal role as a program manager, innovation officer or other official can help—but it doesn’t make a champion. The essential qualifications of champions are possessing the vision to accurately see how an emerging technology could revolutionize military operations as well as the passion to ensure that the United States captures the potential advantages.

Many studies of military innovation have found that the difference between an innovation that achieves revolutionary impact and a promising invention that languishes in obscurity is often the engagement of an effective military champion.

Typically, the military champion is a uniformed officer with technical training. In some cases, the role is performed by a Department of Defense (DoD) civilian. In either case, the champion is technically competent enough to understand the innovation and military missions, procedures and organizations well enough to orchestrate translating the innovation into practice.

Military champions include such famous names as Gen. Billy Mitchell, the “Father of the U.S. Air Force,” and Adm. Hyman Rickover, the “Father of the Nuclear Navy.” However, champions are needed at every level. Victor “Brute” Krulak was a 24-year-old lieutenant in the Marines in 1937 when he hit upon the idea of a landing craft with a square bow that serves as a retractable ramp. When his sketches and recommendations were ignored by the Navy, he built a scale model on his own and demonstrated it to the Marine general in charge of amphibious training. His idea was embraced by wooden boat builder Andrew Higgins who used his own funds to build prototypes of such a vessel. When World War II broke out, the Higgins Boat championed by Krulak was built in the thousands and became the iconic landing craft responsible for all the U.S. amphibious operations in the war. Whether you’re a junior officer like Brute Krulak, a midgrade officer in acquisition or field operations, or a senior leader, your role often is as critical as the inventors’ in determining whether a promising innovation achieves its potential impact. But how can one be an effective military champion for an innovation?

A Concise Framework

Above all, championing an innovation requires initiative and a sense of ownership. It’s fundamentally about being a change agent. Within the military community, the champion’s name may be the one most often associated with the innovation, whose personal investment of energy and reputation helps overcome the inevitable obstacles. As an effective champion, you may need courage and dedication. You need to be the hero of the story.

Happily, the activities required of a military champion are simple to summarize. Studies of military innovation have analyzed the contributions of past champions. Studies of business innovation provide further support. The role is analogous to that of a large corporation’s internal innovation leader or “intrapreneur” who must create and champion a business model and go-to-market strategy to convert a new technology into a business.

The key activities of the military innovation champion are synthesized here into a new, simple and easy-to-remember framework, CAPE for “Connect, Advocate, Protect and Envision” (Table 1). A more detailed explanation follows:

Connect: A technological innovation effort often starts far removed from the military “customers” who ultimately will use it, the funding and contract authorities that can support it, the developers of the doctrine and other complementary innovations needed to implement it, and the senior stakeholders whose support is needed to drive the required changes. This is especially true for the increasing numbers of technologies that arise outside of military programs, within the commercial or academic worlds. A champion is responsible for making those connections. He or she must identify stakeholders and complementary functions, solicit feedback from potential users and help bring together the pieces of a solution.

Advocate: This is the most visible activity of a champion. It includes educating others about the innovation, building networks of support, and turning others into advocates, including senior leaders and operational stakeholders. Advocacy goes beyond securing initial funding for development. It may include one-on-one meetings, speaking at technical or operational symposia or conferences, writing articles and news releases, and organizing influential events like operational demonstrations. Advocacy may need to continue, and evolve, over the life of the effort.

Protect: Acquisition project managers know that even “routine” projects often are buffeted by changes in budget, schedule and requirements. For potentially disruptive innovations, the waters can be even choppier. For instance, the temptation can be great for higher headquarters to take resources from innovative projects seen as “long term” or “risky” to cover the needs of more established programs or support current operations. The military champion must try to protect the effort from adverse programmatic decisions where appropriate, and help ensure the availability of needed resources.

Envision: The most creative and intellectually rewarding part of being a military champion includes developing the vision for how the innovation could be applied to military missions in the future. As earlier military champions drove thinking about how the airplane could impact warfare through control of the air, or envisioned how night vision equipment could enable U.S. military forces to “own the night” with round-the-clock operations, a present-day champion can help the military community understand the implications and applications of the new innovation. The champion’s thought leadership should connect the technology to future concepts of operation (CONOPS) and a new path to mission success. This vision, and feedback from receptive stakeholders, can influence the direction of the technical effort in a virtuous cycle.

The four activities are mutually supporting. A compelling vision of military utility helps in advocating for the innovation, a strong network of connections and potential users helps the champion protect the innovation project, and so on. By devoting time and attention to these four activities, a champion can maximize the chances of success for a worthy military innovation.

An Example in Action

Military champions are found throughout military innovation history. For instance, visionary junior and mid-grade military officers within the Army Signal Corps were critically important to the adoption of the Wright brothers’ airplane and its further development into a military capability. An example a bit closer to home may illustrate the role and impact of a champion on a modern military innovation.

The likelier that the innovation could be disruptive or "game changing," even within a specialized domain, the more critical the role of the champion.

In 1965, Col Joe Davis, USAF, was the Vice Commander of the Armament Development and Test Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. He witnessed a demonstration of one of the few laser illuminators in the world at that time, and heard a presentation from engineers at Texas Instruments (TI) regarding exploratory work on using laser illumination to guide a missile. Having flown F-84 attack jets in the Korean War, he envisioned using a laser spot to guide a gravity bomb to destroy a hard-to-hit point target, such as the bridges in Vietnam that were massively and repeatedly bombed in raids that incurred many aircraft losses. He pictured a laser guidance package that could be attached to bombs already in the inventory. After discussing the idea with the TI engineers, he used a rapid funding authority to provide $100,000 for development of prototype hardware. The TI engineers developed a radical low-cost approach using a “shuttlecock”-shaped laser seeker nose and tail fins. Despite skepticism within the Air Force and TI leadership of the workability of such a concept, seemingly derived from a science fiction novel, Col Davis advocated for more funding from the Air Force’s Aeronautical Systems Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He often gave presentations together with the TI experts. In 1968, he used his flying experience to lead the live bombing tests of the prototype laser-guided bombs in Thailand and Vietnam. The end result was the Paveway series of precision guided munitions that provided revolutionary capability during the 1991 Gulf War. Col Davis’ passionate and sustained effort as a champion was critical to taking this technology from the research lab to the battlefield.

Lessons for Application

Most innovations aren’t once-in-a-generation breakthroughs with obvious potential to upend existing military warfighting techniques, but every potentially valuable innovation can benefit from the efforts of a military champion. The likelier that the innovation could be disruptive or “game changing,” even within a specialized domain, the more critical the role of the champion. Four additional observations can help potential champions further enhance their effectiveness.

Tailor the Role to the Situation. Customize the role and activities to your circumstances. For a junior-level project manager at a laboratory or warfare center, building awareness of the innovation and developing connections between the project and more influential stakeholders and gatekeepers could have the greatest impacts. For a more senior leader, protecting the innovation from adverse budgetary and political forces and using his or her network to align support from leaders across the Services and DoD could be the most valuable contribution. Like Davis, the champion should leverage unique knowledge and experience.

The Champion Role Is Portable. It can take a significant time to build support and momentum for a disruptive innovation, and military assignments can be short. The champion role can continue after leaving the assignment. If the innovation is important to the military, it will continue to deserve your effort, and your new position may provide unique opportunities to help. For example, in the earliest days of carrier aviation before World War II, the first aviation admirals helped place their proteges in follow-on assignments elsewhere in the Navy where their advocacy could help institutionalize carrier aviation as a core warfighting capability.

Do the Homework. It’s important to back up a vision and advocacy with facts. A champion must be armed with knowledge as well as passion and be ready to question his or her assumptions and evolve positions over time as new information becomes available. This will make that champion more credible and effective, and ensure that he continues to push in the right directions.

Political Skills Are Important. It’s possible to overplay the champion role and end up hurting the cause. Mitchell, for instance, let his frustration with the slow adoption of aerial bombing boil over into public statements that led to his famous court-martial. Effectiveness sometimes requires patience, and the political savvy to win over opponents gradually. Thinking about each stakeholder’s interests can help tailor the message to address their priorities and concerns.

Future Evolution

The military Services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense are designing and implementing enhanced innovation management processes and systems. As illustrated by the most consistently innovative private companies, well-designed innovation management processes help immensely in smoothing the road from idea to working prototype and then to fielded capability or marketed product. However, disruptive innovations may never occur solely via a standardized process. Vision and initiative, such as exhibited by Brute Krulak and Joe Davis, are likely to remain essential factors. With the future success of the DoD’s innovation initiatives, the role of military innovation champion will become easier, but it will always be in demand.

Summary

The contributions of military innovation champions have been critical to disruptive military innovation through the decades, and may further increase in importance in the years ahead. Despite its importance, it’s a role that is difficult to formally assign and isn’t emphasized in acquisition training. Someone who has a technically informed vision and chooses to step forward could leverage the simple framework and guidance presented here to follow in the footsteps of many other champions and help bring a future possibility to light.

With luck, any reader of this article could be the hero of the next military innovation story.

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