The motto of the Air Corps Tactical School (the foundational school for Air University) is: Proficimus More Irretenti. And for those who don't read Latin: we make progress unhindered by custom. I love that; it reminds me of this:
Tradition (n): peer pressure from dead people.
I have often claimed that I teach no particular subject, but rather I teach fearlessness. If I teach anything, it always ends up being about how students should work and think unhindered by custom. Question everything. Isn't that what learning is supposed to be like? Socrates much? Teaching at an institution that comes from that motto is like winning the lottery. How can we be better communicators if we are afraid to say anything in print or out loud? If we fear being vulnerable, we tend to hinder our creativity. Following tradition is excellent--we need to honor the past--but to the point of fearing innovation? That's real bad.
As I have listened to, on repeat, and read (many times), Loonshots: How to Nurture Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Organizations by Safi Bahcall, I have come to realize that each of us can live a loonshot life. Bahcall defines loonshoot as an idea that isn't just a BIG idea, it's an idea that seems insane to invest in, to even think about; it's anathema to tradition and custom. But then a champion comes along who can do the heavy lifting that a nutty idea needs. We can be those champions of our own lives.
If we embrace change (because what choice do we really have), then we can embrace innovation and loonshots when we meet them. If only we could recognize that discomfort with new ideas or wariness of change and how that can actually be the start of something new and outrageously cool. How might we do such a thing? If we personally allow for change, we might find it's easier to recognize it when it comes to us from outside.
Ask yourself this: when was the last time you changed your hair, the color of the clothes you wear, what you eat, where you go, what you make, what you read, or the manner of your entertainment? Being personally open is the fuel that runs the engine of professional openness. Innovation is partly what comes from what someone does--artists, inventors, makers--but it's also about who supports innovation, those who write the checks, give permission, authorize attempts, champion what is becoming.
As Joseph Campbell famously wrote about heroes--they are the champions not of what is, but of what is becoming, they slay the monsters of the status quo, they are change agents. We can each be a change agent. It's more than just moving around the furniture, though, it's about fundamentally rethinking what we believe furniture might be.
Who woulda thunk people would pay a lot of money to sleep on ice beds? A loonshot thinker.
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