#68 -- In China, The Early Bird Gets its Head Cut Off -- Scaling the Mindset for Dual-Use and Defense Ecosystems (Part 2)
What happens if we do not get it right....
In China, the early bird gets its head cut off.
Advice given to me in year one of a ten year tour in mainland China. For CCP officials and Chinese Nationals, this lesson is learned the hard way…..by way disappearance or death. The five-year planning helps codify the masses. Step outside the plan and you will lose more than your face. The CCP doesn’t care about our processes, innovation orgs, research centers, hubs, or new widgets. They are hyper focused on building and have been for decades. They leverage what has been and make it operationally better, faster and cheaper. They are good at it.
It takes more than bright lightbulbs. It takes money for R&D. It takes centers of gravity for technology domains. It takes private capital and venture investments into practical solutions. It takes prioritization by government. It takes motivated individuals competing for excellence. It takes pride in nation and community. It takes strong leadership. Leadership with the fortitude to go beyond the process and focus on the solution.
The current US government “innovation” mimics the China system minus the heads being chopped off. Not good considering we created the world order through being early to the game. In the US, the early bird does get the worm. This is how we became global leaders of the people. This is how we win. In today’s world the US government sucks at innovation. The private sector speed will trump the bloated trough any day. Our friends and foes know this, we still struggle with this one. Not because of the individuals, but due to the group alignment of mission.
For some it’s about the money. How to line the pockets of the layers of primes, subs and programs. For others it’s about the comfort of a repeatable process and step knowledge. For most in the arena, it’s about the end user.
We win by playing to the strengths:
People/Talent — Job Rotations
Openly Tradeable Currency — Free Markets
Private Capital Markets — Competition
Let’s support the arena…..
God Bless America!
Tyler
