The key to expanding the Navy’s innovation efforts is closer cooperation with the private sector, specifically with Silicon Valley. Working with this industry will equip sailors with better technology, and create a culture of innovation throughout the fleet. We can learn a great deal from our peers in Silicon Valley, but startup culture is not a silver bullet. Specific aspects of startup culture can improve our innovation efforts, and we should work to adopt these traits, however, we need to understand that startups also have their flaws.
Lessons from Silicon Valley
Recently, I had the opportunity to spend six weeks working for a startup in San Francisco. While this provided me with a wealth of lessons to bring back to my command, here are two aspects of startup culture the Navy should adopt, and one it should avoid.
Encourage Movement Between the Private Sector and the Navy
The desire to forge a stronger relationship between the Department of Defense (DoD) and Silicon Valley is not one-sided. There is a lot of bad press that makes it seem as though Silicon Valley wants nothing to do with DoD. The internal strife at Google caused by Project Maven, resulting in a letter signed by more than 3,000 Google employees, is the loudest recent headline. In my experience, residents of Silicon Valley, from interns all the way up to C-level executives, are eager to have DoD in town. I worked with a small company of 45 employees, so take that with a grain of salt, but there is a focus on the bad press.
Silicon Valley is eager to have DoD personnel for several reasons. C-level executives see a great business opportunity. The other employees expressed a genuine interest in why the Navy would send a sailor to their company. I encountered none of the antimilitary bias that I was nervous I might encounter. Sailor 2025 encourages movement between the private sector and the Navy. This is the right move.
Allowing sailors to spend some time in the private sector is the best way to forge a relationship based on more than lucrative DoD contracts. I felt like people were excited to have me there, they knew almost nothing about the Navy, and they were eager to learn about my experiences. Additionally, the experience I picked up in areas such as web development, marketing, and event marketing will help me innovate within the Navy. Movement between the two organizations is a win-win scenario.
Fast Prototyping and the Shortened Chain
In a startup, decision-makers are accessible at all times. At the company where I worked, the cofounders did not have an office. They had a desk right next to their employees. It took me about a week to adjust to the fact that I could talk to them without an appointment. The benefit of this is that ideas move up the chain extremely quickly. In Silicon Valley there is a sense of urgency at all times. No company has a monopoly on their ideas. Even in the most obscure area of tech there probably are at least three companies competing to bring their product to market first and gain dominance in the space. As a result, startups have to move quickly to survive.
The Navy should adopt a similar idea. The Navy never could allow unbridled access to decisionmakers. Every sailor with a gripe would be walking into the commanding officer’s (CO’s) office on a daily basis. The Navy has a chain of command for a reason, and for the most part that needs to stay in place. However, a command-level Rapid Innovation Cell, advised by several senior enlisted, could act as a forum for ideas to move from the deckplate, through development, and up to the decision-makers quickly, while preventing trivial groans and gripes from making it to the CO’s desk. At my command, we are considering establishing a Command Rapid Innovation Cell—an official collateral to incentivize innovation at the deckplate level and get buy-in from senior enlisted personnel.
Take the Innovation, Leave the Sensitivity
One of the problems that modern startups face is workplace sensitivity. Since I enlisted in the Navy, I have heard chiefs bemoan the arrival of the “new Navy.” Prior to my six weeks with a startup, I never fully understood why this was a problem. After my time with a startup, I have seen where hypersensitivity can lead and how damaging it could be to the Navy.
In the my short time in Silicon Valley, I learned that seemingly harmless phrases such as “R.I.P” can be construed as offensive. Back at the command, we got a kick out of the bewildering hypersensitivity of the private sector, but this is no laughing matter. We need to seriously think about how far to let sensitivity go before it gets out of hand. Being able to communicate freely, and in crass terms when the situation demands, is important for two reasons.
The language of urgency. Unlike Silicon Valley, much of what is done in the Navy can result in loss of life. When things get dangerous, a sense of urgency that can save the day. During an evolution, when things go wrong, screaming and swearing may be the only way to communicate that it is time to turn on the sense of urgency. You do not have time to carefully pick your words and explain the situation. I need you to move right now! Screaming and swearing can save lives, and often does on the deckplates. While it may bruise some feelings, I would much rather see sailors return with ten fingers and ten toes. Sensitivity takes away our ability to communicate urgency, and that puts sailors lives in danger.
Sensitivity destroys camaraderie. In the Navy, I feel like I am part of a community. My bond with shipmates goes deeper than sharing the same workplace. I enjoy hearing about how their kids are doing, the hell-raising that took place out on the town, the ribbing over which football teams won and lost, and the many other topics that we discuss in our shop. I can’t walk from my shop to admin without stopping to talk with at least two shipmates. That is the camaraderie that I love about the Navy, and it is probably what will retain me for years to come. When problems do arise, we handle them at the lowest level as professionals.
In the Silicon Valley workplace, you have to be careful about what you talk about and how you say it. Nearly anything could be classified as offensive. As a result, you encounter an eerily silent workplace. I felt like I was walking on eggshells, carefully choosing my words to avoid offending someone. If this kind of hypersensitivity was ever able to take root in the Navy, camaraderie and retention would suffer. While maintaining a respectful workplace is important, it’s personally something I believe in, hypersensitivity is a political weapon used to stifle communication. It has no place in the Navy.
Specific aspects of startup culture are valuable and belong in the Navy, but it is not a silver bullet. When adopting startup culture, let’s not forget to put the Navy first.
