I always look forward to attending the U.S. Naval Institute/AFCEA WEST conference. It’s an energizing time to listen to speakers who have strategic influence and insights, meet dynamic leaders who are getting it done at the deck-plates, and gain exposure to new technologies, products and services that help keep us on the cutting-edge of national defense capability. Each year I’m entirely impressed with this event and I walk away smarter. Thanks to a unique addition to this year’s line-up, this go around was the best yet.
Bunker Labs – a wildly cool company that incubates veteran startups – co-hosted “Bunker Burst” with the U.S. Naval Institute. The intent was to engage participants through workshops to curate catalytic insights, big idea thinking, and exciting engagement for workshop participants. The mission was well accomplished.
I walked into the San Diego convention center not knowing what to expect. Having moved up to the Bay Area last year to launch a technology company with my partners, I’ve attending dozens of workshops and entrepreneur oriented technology and networking events in Silicon Valley and San Francisco with varying degrees of utility. I was excited to be apart of Bunker Burst and hoping it would deliver.
When VADM Daly, USN (Ret.) gave the opening remarks and articulated the reasons why the U.S. Naval Institute was partnering with Bunker Labs to sponsor a “big blue arrow” problem solving workshop a light bulb went off: of course the institution dedicated to promoting disruptive thinking and change advocacy among officers and enlisted leaders in our sea services would be involved in leveraging the proven techniques and processes used to solve some of the greatest problems facing technology companies in design to solve some of the greatest problems facing our sea services in how we fight our wars and maintain readiness and retention.
That morning we learned about Bunker Labs from their energetic and passionate CEO, Todd Conner, who explained his organization’s goal: launch and accelerating veteran-owned businesses, channeling the energy among veterans to become entrepreneurs and business owners and create a new forum for high-performing veterans to meet and collaborate. This story and message resonated deeply among a diverse audience of active duty, reservists, industry professionals and businessmen and women. We were divided into small groups and immediately jumped into the cold pool of learning with both feet and spent the morning learning about design thinking and applying the process to a sample use case.
At around lunch we used what we learned that morning to address key questions posed by the CNO, Marine Corps Commandant, SECDEF, Undersecretary for Personnel and 8 other senior leaders. Because the first step of the process is reframing the broader question to achieve an outcome based question, some of what we arrived at looked wildly different than what we expected – which was absolutely part of the enjoyment of discovery.
Each team worked throughout the afternoon on solving 1-2 questions and at the end of the day we pitched our solution concept to the group. This was one of the most enjoyable part of the day with some groups resembling a professional pitch team asking for money on Sand Hill Road, to others offering what looked like a short one act play. I was really impressed with the responses, the originality of the presentations and the very different approaches each group took to solving the problem. These solutions are going to be sent back to those that posed them, and I’m excited to see their responses.
The afternoon closed with a networking event atop a beautiful hotel in downtown San Diego and the conversations from the day played out past sun down. In the end, I was very impressed with the first ever Bunker Labs and think that it should be an event that remains a part of WEST in the years to come. Not only did we break down barriers, learn new problem solving techniques, and expand our professional network, we also had fun. Which as we know is a big part of the culture of any high performing problem solving team.
The hallmark of the Naval Institute is that it provides a forum to make us better – to try things out of the box and to explore ideas that challenge the norm. It also serves to remind us about the importance of the lessons of our own naval history so that we may be better leaders, thinkers, innovators and citizens. To that end, Bunker Burst was absolutely consistent with this legacy and I hope it continues in the years to come.
