What has a mountain got to do with Freedom?

Several years ago we went to Grandfather's Mountain in NC and climbed the Daniel Boone Trail. We didn't know exactly what we were getting into until it was too late to turn back and a little bit dangerous for our party. The trail was steep and rocky but we ended up making it OK with no lasting issues. I do admit that at one point I heard the 73 old lady with us yell. Steve, and I reached out and grabbed her by the leg before she tried to fly from a very high rock cropping. America seems to be in one of those difficult trails now with it's economy and the business climate that I see. After paying my "fair share" of taxes this year, I'm looking at a large percentage of my earnings and savings going to pay for government programs that aren't run efficiently or are simply not needed. After working in the government for 10 years as a civilian and 25 years in uniform as a Naval Officer, I can make these statements with absolute first hand knowledge. I was just sent this quote from Abraham Lincoln. Please take note and consider this:

         SOMETHING TO CONSIDER...   

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.  

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.  

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.  

-- Abraham Lincoln

A new journey

We have embarked on a new phase of our journey with a 25 foot Airstream trailer. Being a submarine officer with 17 years of sea duty, I see allot of the same issues that we had at sea. If you don't have it with you, you need to make do with what you have.
Being limited in space makes you more cautious about what you take with you. You may be sleeping with it if you don't have a place to store it. We don't waste anything: electrical power, water, etc. Some of the best technology that I've seen in the past few months is in the alternative energy area. Currently I have a 600w wind turbine in my office. I'm waiting to get it on the roof. In our hurricane prone area of the coast, that might just allow us to have electricity when every other house is dark. Our turbulent times call not for violence but for thoughtful, hardworking Americans to reach back to the past and pull the values that our fathers and grand fathers taught us and drag them into the future with new technology and new answers. No whining here. I still remember when my family didn't have running water or indoor bathrooms.

 

Biomaterials Science Chapter on product development

I was asked by a friend, Dr. Yitzhak Rosen, to contribute a chapter to his book on the topic of Innovative Product Development and Technology Adoption for Medical Applications. I'm proud to say we actually made it through the process and you can purchase the book on Amazon. The book title is Biomaterials Science: an integrated Clinical and Engineering Approach by Yitzhak  Rosen and Noel Elman. I guess success breeds success so as a result, I've been asked to expand that chapter into a book of its own. It will probably be available next spring. I'm working on the draft now. It's a test  of self-discipline.  It will have a number of references to the submarine environment and to innovation in general so maybe it will be interesting to both salty sea dogs and to innovators.

A while back I was asked to contribute to a book being written by a very good friend. I'm proud to say that we actually finished it and it is available for purchase on Amazon. The book is a text book on Biomaterials Science, An integrated clinical and engineering approach by Yitzhak Rosen and Noel Elman. There are some very high level people contributing and I'm happy to say that the final chapter of the book was my contribution, Innovative Product Development and Technology Adoption for Medical Applications.

A new time and a new strategy

As a Science and Technology manager Level III for the Department of Defense, I've experienced the frustration that others have with the slowness of the process and the hesitancy of managers to attempt transition of new technologies. So with enough time to move to a higher level, I've chosen to go full time as a consultant and advanced technology developer to help my many contacts move their technology to the marketplace. This may seem to be a risky move to some from a well paying government job with a certain paycheck to the life of an entrepreneur with risks at every turn and success never guaranteed. But as we get older and hopefully wiser we see life differently. I'd like to look back and see what we've accomplished as a team, rather than what we've guarded as an achievement of times past. As a submarine captain I always found it much easier to maintain depth control in rough seas with headway on the ship. In the rough seas of this economy, let's get the ship moving in the right direction and use that steerage way to change the course to a more favorable heading.

The Sparrow or the June Bug

Many leaders in industry view innovation like a sparrow. They are enamoured with the flight of the sparrow and bring it into their organization. When they get it there, they wrap it in layers of control and required reports and program managers. These are just like squeezing the sparrow in your hands. After a short while they look again at the sparrow and it's lifeless and won't fly again. They should treat it like I used to treat june bugs as a boy. I'd catch a June bug and tie some of my mom's fine thread around one leg. Then I'd fly him around the yard like a kite. He had enough freedom to fly but not enough to escape. If you hold your innovative people too tightly, you only succeed in squeezing the life out of them.

Open Innovation and Innoventure

This week I attended the Innoventure conference in Greenville, SC. It was a very impressive collection of venture capitalist and a number of leading edge entrepreneurs. I was impressed by the entire conference. The Swamp Fox group that put it own should be commended.

Two of the speakers were especially good. The Proctor and Gamble speaker mentioned the open innovation site connect direct.

https://www.pgconnectdevelop.com/pg-connection-portal/ctx/noauth/PortalHome.do

This site has some interesting possibilities.

The other impressive speaker was from General Electric. The part of his presentation that was interesting was the information that 25% of the wind turbines come from Greenville, SC. They are now making the 1.5MW generator and will be making the 2.5MW unit there as well.