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As appealing as this vision is, particularly to people like me, a great new idea is only the first step along the road. A great deal of work will have to be done to turn it into something tangible. The majority of us are not our own bosses with the total freedom to implement new ideas at the drop of a hat. Even those of us who are the bosses are rarely free to implement new ideas on a whim. We have boards of directors to answer to; we have advisory boards we need to keep informed; we have CAPEX reviews to pass, marketing strategies that have to be amended, designs drawn up, materials acquired, customers signed up, regulatory approval obtained, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Sometimes the list seems unending and very daunting. When Commander Bud first encouraged me to write for BlueSky News, he was continually emphasizing the need for innovation. He is, of course, quite right. Our industry is moribund, mature, calcified in some pretty major regards. Part of it, is the nature of our industry; we are highly constrained and highly regulated, which is perfectly appropriate considering that a frequent result of a major failure is the death of everyone aboard the aircraft. The stakes are genuinely high. But, part is our fault The rest of the challenge, of course, can not be fairly laid at the feet of others. It is all us. We refuse to take chances; we take a bit of joy in subtly trashing someone else's new concept in the study group; we are members in good standing of the Committee for the Punishment of Failure where we get to cut short the careers of those who tried and failed at something new. Many of us do not want the industry to change because that would change the landscape, forcing us to revise our fourteen step plan for world domination. Or at least endanger our move to the corner office. This sort of conservatism, like almost every other form of conservatism, is rooted in fear; a fear of change and a fear of failure. Our fear of failure is valid because we have gone out of our way to ensure that failure is punished harshly (good strategy to deal with those annoying creative people who might make us look bad). It is interesting that this period of stagnation is also marked by record high corporate profits during the greatest global recession the bankers have been able to produce since Herbert Hoover. So, it is not a question of scarce resources. This period is also marked by a rapidly changing world. We face challenges with global climate shift, economic problems around the globe, shifting political power structures, expansion of high speed rail, increasingly sophisticated telecommunications, post-Peak Oil, and an utter lack of social mobility here in the US as well as the UK. So, it isn't a question of what we do currently meets all possible needs. The world is a cauldron of opportunity at present. No, the problem is a failure to engage constructively, creatively. Which brings me back to Commander Bud. He has this idea for an innovative group of movers and shakers he calls the action group, a very smart idea oriented around doing. I didn't really understand the importance of the idea at first, so I wrote on a different concept, the think tank. The differences are as fundamental as those between our personality types. I'm a thoughtful, creative designer type, and Commander Bud is all about accomplishing something. The difference is between concept and execution. With the think tank, my thought is that if those people in industry who want to do something new have a lot of supporting data showing that this idea or that one makes a lot of sense, then having a think tank as a "non-partisan" authority would enable them to move forward. Bud took the complementary tack and seeks those creative people in a position to move forward with new ideas but need allies. Brilliant idea, frankly, and one I had not thought of. If we can combine these two concepts, a think tank and an action group, then the world is our oyster. The BA Meetup is this November in Daytona Beach, Florida. One really exciting thing is the session on the think tank, what should it be, what problems should it address. With the right people in attendance, we might even find ourselves with an ad hoc action group. Terry Drinkard is currently consulting on an aviation start-up. His interests and desire are being involved in cool developments around airplanes and in the aviation industry. Usually working as a contract heavy structures engineer, he has held positions with Boeing and Gulfstream Aerospace and has years of experience in the MRO world. Terry’s areas of specialty are aircraft design, development, manufacturing, maintenance, and modification; lean manufacturing; Six-sigma; worker-directed teams; project management; organization development and start-ups. Terry welcomes your comments, questions or feedback. You may contact him via terry.drinkard@blueskynews.aero Other recent articles by Terry Drinkard:
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