A520.3.3.RB Constraint on Innovation.

A520.3.3RB

    Constraints to productivity, innovation and creativity exist everywhere in our lives.  There are so many mental, physical, or spiritual constraints that haunt my work center and its creativity, that sometimes even mundane tasks become difficult.  Innovation is a difficult idea to spark and to energize teams to develop in the military.  I spend most of my time trying to get my troops to think and act differently.  Old adages, axioms, mottos, and ways-of-old often limit creativity and innovation.  The hierarchal micro-society of the military usually place artificial constraints on creativity and restricts "new thinking" through this stereotyping based on past experiences (Whetten, 2010) way of thinking.  This is true in most forms of government even at the city level.  Take for example in the post Katrina reconstruction of New Orleans, city planners where struggling to come up with a unified plan.  They instead turned to the a collective of 9,000 residents to aid in the redesigned.  This plan ultimately provided a positive plan that had the collective buy-in (Cea, 2017).  Even great geniuses and some of the greatest minds that have ever lived have had constraints; take for Johannes Kepler, a brilliant scientist who put his work on hold and become a laughing stock because his mother was accused of witchcraft in the early 1600's (Landauer, 2001).  Kepler's work helped us define how planets orbits work, setting the stage for future Astronomer to develop complex theories we still use today.  His constraint on his creativity was his mother's trial.  

   My constraints and restraints setup obstacles that have been with me for years and years limiting me from solving creative simple and advanced problems.  One of those particular barriers is education; throughout my military career I struggled with the lack of education in the subject or the matter and therefore did not posses the intellect to work through problems.  I believed that the role of the enlisted space operator was too much of a barrier that the military and myself put in the way of innovation.  I believed that I could not be as educated on the satellite, payload or subject as perhaps an officer that had a degree from MIT and therefore could never solve advanced problems in my field.  This was an artificial barrier that I put in place.  This barrier was overcame when I started to gain my education, as I worked through my undergrad program I started to think differently about this barrier.  I started to understand that "education did not make you an intellect."  I started to grasp the idea of a life long learner.  Throughout my first graduate program in Space Sciences, I really started to understand that this barrier is artificial and intellect is not gained from a degree rather develops critical thinking skills.  It is not about the degree but about the journey and the process of creativity that is gained from a graduate degree.  Upon completion of tearing down this barrier I did not feel inferior or equal to the officer instead I felt disappointed that I had learned this lesson earlier in my career.       

References

Cea, J. L., & Rimington, J. (2017, Summer). Creating BREAKOUT innovation.Stanford Social Innovation Review, 15, 32-39.

Landauer, L. B. (2001). Johannes Kepler. In N. Schlager & J. Lauer (Eds.), Science and Its Times (Vol. 3, pp. 375-377). Detroit: Gale.

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing Management Skills (Ninth Edition). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education

A520.2.3 10 minutes a day

Finding peace through 10 minutes of nothing

   What is stress and how can I manage it through mindfulness?  Even trying to define stress and the human identity of the word can be stressful.  Both psychologists and physiologists have trouble defining the word stress, however both communities agree that it can have a negative impact on the body.  Over the past week, I have been over stressed, over taxed, and over worked and needed some help.  This same stress level skyrocketed over the past few years, in part because of the increase in rank and title, as well as every day life.  Doctor Breuning work in Psychology Today "people feel hopeless and defeated (2011)."  While this revelation is not mind blowing and humans have suffered from this since the dawn of man.  As Breuning explains it is how we deal with stress that can literally protect our heart.  

   In an effort to find peace, I have tried everything from eating vegetables, to walking on coals (did not work!), to floating in a therapeutic pods (creeped me out).  None of these things truly helped on a continuous basis.  I have sought mental health professionals even tried homeopathic remedies; while these worked on a temporary basis, my therapist is not always available and sudo science is expensive to try to buy the latest thing.  How can I relive my stress?  

   One thing that has worked well for me is mindfulness.  This 2,000 year old practice is a difficult thing to master, it requires patience and practice.  There are two different styles of mindfulness focused and choiceless closed (Bauer-Wu, 2010).  The focused style accepts that objects, stress, or actions happen.  The style calls for the person to accept that it happens or the object exist, but not doing anything with it; accept it and move one.  Choiceless on the other hand, is difficult to master, this is where the body and mind do not notice anything.  

    For three days in a row I used guided-focused mindfulness for ten minutes a day with the "Calm" app.  This guided mediation helped me focus on my breathing and finding its center of gravity in my process.  What a wonderful result! By spending 10 minutes a day doing nothing but focusing on my breathing helped me feel grounded, providing the clarity I needed that day.  While the practice of mindfulness is difficult for a working Airman while going through another graduate degree program, the ten minutes a day is one of the best practices I have found in many years.  

   References

• Bauer-Wu, S. (2010). Mindfulness meditation. Oncology (Williston Park, N.Y.), 24(10 Suppl), 36.

Breuning, Loretta (2011).  The Danger of Self-Identifying "Stressed. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-neurochemical-self/201109/the-danger-self-identifying-stressed

• Persson, P. B., & Zakrisson, A. (2016). stress. Acta Physiologica, 216(2), 149-152. doi:10.1111/apha.12641

A520.1.3RB_MosleyHarold

  My purpose of the MSLD program 

   My purpose of continuing my leadership and managerial education is to develop me into a leader that can move both an organization and people.  I opted to take this program because I recognized that I was not as strong of leader, as I believed.  The MSLD program has provided me with a myriad of thought provoking mechanisms on how to critical think about my own deficiencies and strengths.  A fundamental question tends to appear as I move through my education: am I qualified to be a manager, and a leader to move an organization or a project, or people?  Building upon this question into my daily life: am I qualified to make the decision I am about to make?  This simple question is not aimed at the black/white answer do I have the training but rather do I have the trust in myself that I can make the decision (whatever it may be). 

  

At the start of this program, on the very first day I questioned my own definition of critical thinking, Robert Ennis defines critical thinking as "reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do (Nosich, 2012).  Critically thinking on what defines me as a manager and a leader are furthered explored throughout the MSLD program.  Whetten and Cameron (2016) identified five critical areas of self-awareness that help me critical explore my own framework as a leader and a manger.  In my growth and development, it is important that I have a solid framework that is sturdy enough to hold the decision of which I might be asked to make.  Do I have what it takes as a manager to develop a new search engine or to develop a commercial space industry or council an Airman in suicidal distress?    

  

   People around me have started to notice a change.  I tend to take the time to go through inductive reasoning and critical thinking standard to actively apply ethical decision making.  For example, I recently struggled with an Airman that was struggling with a spouse's medical issue.  She was diagnosed with Acute Mountain Sickness, a debilitating sickness for people that live in high altitude bases (that most Airman and families get on arrival).  He struggled at home and work and his supervision jumped to conclusions and did not take extra measures to help.  His performance suffered as did the organization, this is typical of all Airman when getting accumulated to high attitudes.  When I took over as command, I immediately jumped into action by helping the Airman find a job that benefited the organization and the member.  I applied my knowledge, my core values, my ethical decision-making ability, my cognitive style toward my attitude to find an assignment that everyone benefited that was not at high altitude.  While this decision was unpopular amoungst my and his peers, it was the right thing to do.  Now I am faced with the consequences of setting the wrong message for an Airman that needed help.        

 Throughout my leadership growth in the military I have learned how to council Airmen, write appraisals, or manager resources (The Airman handbook, 2015).  However, I need to constantly asses my core and ensure that the decision that I must make is cored around five core aspects.  I need to know where my emotional intellectual levels, my values, my cognitive styles, my attitude toward change, and my self-evaluation (Whetten & Cameron pg 47).  These pillars help build my own pentagon of development providing five cornerstones to hang all other attributes, layers and levels on (pg 49).  

References

Nosich G.M. (2012) Learning to think Things Through; Critical Thinking across the curriculum. (4^th ed) Columbus , Oh Prentice Hall

The Airman's Handbook (2015). Department of the Air Force

Whetten, D.A., & Cameron, K.S. (2016). Developing 

management skills (9th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.