I don't know how we would have ever gotten an Air Force without having airmen that were proficient in coming up with ideas and then in nurturing them to something that looked like reality . The Air Force has announced the creation of a new Information Operations technical training school . The First command simply must arm our airmen to outflank outperform our partner out , innovate any potential adversary Air Force , Basic military training , has an updated curriculum with the new focus on readiness and lethality . The First Command the Air Force starts here . Hey everyone at sea are safe from the A . T . C . Public affairs team . Thank you all so much for joining me on the Air Force starts your podcast and as you all may know this is dedicated to bringing Total force . Big airman tips tricks and lessons learned from the recruiting training and education worlds . And in this episode we are discussing an initiative that has ripple effects across the Air Force . The air force has identified 24 airmen's foundational competencies for all airmen and this is a part of a systematic competency based approach to develop the force . So these foundational competencies are actually universally applicable to all airmen and are categorized into four groups . Those are developing self developing others , developing ideas and developing organizations . And today we'll be discussing developing ideas and the foundational competencies under this group or analytical thinking digital literacy , creative thinking , fostering innovation and influence and joining us to discuss the developing ideas group are Lieutenant General Clinton High note , he is the deputy Chief of Staff for strategy integration and requirements at headquarters Air Force and we also have Mr Jamal Qaim , who is the foundational competencies . Branch chief here at the A . T . C . Headquarters . Thank you both so much for joining us today and before we get started , if you could just tell our listeners a little bit about yourselves , hey everyone and hey see it's great to be here . Thank you so much for for the invitation . Um so my name is Clint Hideout . I lead the team in the pentagon called Air Force Futures . What do we do ? Our job is to help to build tomorrow's Air Force for tomorrow's airman . So we call ourselves the voice of tomorrow's airman on the staff were the ones who are putting ourselves out there trying to figure out what it is that they're going to need in their time to defend the country . And we know that that Air force is different than the Air Force of today . We have a great Air force uh we we we stand on the shoulders of Giants , but our team is responsible for helping to orient our air force towards the types of air force . It needs to be into the future . So we get to think about all sorts of creative ideas when it comes to how we're going to fight in the future . The capabilities that we're going to have , the organizations that we're going to need in order to to use the talent that we have and then of course thinking about what kind of airmen they're going to be successful in that Air force so and that's what I think we're going to end up talking a lot about today , which is why I'm so excited to be here . Perfect . Thank you so much sir . Go ahead . Mr keane . Hello seed . What that that was that was a great introduction general really . I'm the breast chief of foundational competencies and competencies is is uh what we're all about , How can we help too produce those airmen of the future by creating roadmaps and creating those those things that the Air Force uh tells us are important . I'm I'm a career civil servant . I started off as an instructional system specialist where I would work with Second Air Force putting hours enlisted and officers through initial skilled training pipeline . Um Later on I became a curriculum development chief where we would come come about with development of curriculum based on the requirements of the career field and and those requirements are pretty much near term out to about five years but that future that we're talking about is where competencies come in and they fit in . Currently I work in headquarters a a three J enforce development in uh in the competencies division awesome sir . Thank you . And actually I'm going to start off with the first question with you . Mr km . So how is a competency defined ? That's a that's an outstanding question because there's a lot of different definitions for competencies . But the competence , the definition that that we chose to go with is a combination of what we see around D . O . D . And OPM . And within the air force itself . And so we define a competency as a combination of knowledge , skills , abilities and other characteristics that manifest themselves an observable measurable patterns of behavior . So we're so we're talking about that behavior . Yes sir . Absolutely . Thank you . So generally I know why do you think developing ideas has been identified as an Air Force competency group ? So see I don't know how we would have ever gotten an air force without having airmen that were proficient in coming up with ideas and then in nurturing them to something that looks like reality . Uh you know you think about our history and the fact that somebody had the idea that flying would be a good idea for things like military use cases . Uh and then they probably were thinking boy we could do this and then we could do this and and then and then we can even do this and you think about uh you know all of the points of our history where developing ideas played a huge role in becoming who we are . I'll give you an example because I I'm in the pentagon right now uh up on my wall is a shadow box from my grandfather , my grandfather was a pilot in World War Two and he also flew in the Berlin airlift and I have a distinguished flying cross from the time that he flew in the Berlin airlift . So it always helps to ground me and kind of our history a little bit . Somebody had the idea that they would be able to refuel rearm to uh , to , to support a city that was blockaded from the ground and use airplanes to do it . I can only imagine what's , what , what their initial reaction was when that person said we could do it from the air . And I bet you there were five people were like , oh no , you can't , it's never been done . You know , there'd be all of these reasons why we couldn't do it right . But yet sure enough , that idea became a reality after a lot of work And and you know , I think about a story I often used to inspire our people because Pentagon can be kind of draining tough work sometimes . You know , we all have tough jobs and it can be tough here . And I like to remember the story of Colonel suitor they everybody called him moody . So as a movie Souter and he was the one that was responsible for nurturing the idea that if we could be realistic enough in our training , we could actually simulate combat so well that it would be like flying the first few missions of combat in Vietnam , they figured out that the the young pilots that didn't have any experience in combat were the ones most likely to die . And if they could get through those 1st 10 missions , their chances of survival went straight up and moody sooner said , I think we can do that in training . I think we can make it so realistic that we can do that in training . He , I know for a fact he got kicked out of a bunch of offices here in the pentagon . Maybe even mine , I don't know , but you know , but he didn't stop , right . He kept developing this idea that realistic training could save lives in combat and we have red flag today , we have a red flag , Alaska , we have all of these incredible realistic training opportunities that we have . So I think about our history and it's almost true that we couldn't have gotten away from developing ideas as one of our core competencies . But then I think about the future as well , right ? And that the Air Force of today will not be the Air force that wins tomorrow . We have to change our our chief has said accelerate change or lose . I actually think that's right . I think the evidence shows that if we don't change , we will lose . But I also in confident that airmen have the ideas on how we should fight in the future so that we can be effective . So tomorrow's airmen will be effective in their time . And so I think it would it would have been a huge loss had we not identified , developing ideas as a core competency because what that's gonna allow us to do is to focus on those behaviors and be able to nurture those behaviors in our airmen , young old people that think they're creative and people that don't think they're creative , we want to nurture those behaviors inside of our eminent so that when that idea comes up it will be developed and nurtured to the point of being something that helps out tomorrow's airman in the future . So I suspect that we're gonna be , we're gonna look back one day and be pretty glad we identified in this core competency . Absolutely , sir , thank you so much for sharing that . And I also love the personal stories that you shared . You beat me to my next question because I was going to ask you have any personal stories of how you've seen this competency in action and the impacts if you have any additional ones feel free to share . So I do , I'm very fortunate and then I live in a part of the Air Force where ideas are nourished and it's okay to bring forward the quote stupid idea because there aren't any ideas that are stupid . You know , I think some of us are very , very comfortable sharing ideas . Uh you know , where the types of people that like have 15 ideas in a day and we throw them out there and then others of us I think are kind of reticent to share our new ideas , maybe we think that they're not that good . Uh we don't , we don't want other people to tell us that hey , that's a stupid idea . And most of us are somewhere in the middle of that spectrum . Right ? And so one of the people that I get inspired by is a an officer , we'll call her kim She just retired . In fact , I just officiated her retirement ceremony not that long ago . And at one point during her time in our organization , she came into the office and and we were struggling with a really difficult problem . So in the last National Defense Strategy there were key operational problems . There were actually seven of them . Uh and I remember writing them up on my whiteboard going , you know , these are really tough problems and I was a little depressed and how tough they were because I didn't have a good solution for them . And yet our organization inside the Air Force was the one that the secretary was looking to that help help solve those problems . And I remember that kim came into the room and she started explaining this idea she had and at first I I didn't understand it at all . I mean I was like I went right over my head and then she started talking about science fiction movies and it would be and she started using science fiction movies , different scenes to say it's kind of like this . And then if you if you had them a little bit over here would be a lot like that . And before the end of the time that we had together , she had explained to me something that we call today , the I s are sensing grid meaning the way that we're going to take surveillance , reconnaissance , intelligence feeds and put them together into knowledge . And she actually came up with that idea , and I remember going , well , you know , if it would work , it would help us solve this problem . And so , you know , I think what that did , by the way , we're still pursuing that , it's still a key part if you go and you look at our our key narratives and r and the first principles of airpower , uh this sense Ingrid plays a key role inside our future Air force plans . And I think what I took away from that was that uh is so important for me is the leader to have an open mind to the types of ideas that our people might come up with to listen , not to do what I might have thought of it first , which was I have no idea what you're talking about . Uh you know , but but I didn't say that I just was listening , I was trying to understand and eventually I did understand a lot more about what she was saying , and I think about how easy it might have been to dismiss the idea or to , you know , say I'm tired and and uh and not really understanding what you're talking about , but we kept at it , I kept asking questions , She kept talking and she was really excited about it . And I'm so glad that we were able to communicate with each other because that was the beginning of a really important idea of how the brain together . All these forms of violence are feeds and put it together into something that the commander and the airmen on the front edge can use . So I have to remember back to that . I learned a lot from that . I think I developed in my competency of of trying to develop ideas inside of my organization by what I learned from kim . Yes , sir . Absolutely . Thank you so much . So Mr cain , how do the competencies listed under developing ideas help the air Force's mission ? What they do is they help to lay a foundation for a change . We uh we we have to be prepared to think outside of our normal daily tasks , day to day tasks . We have to find the opportunities to reimagine what we do and how we do . Uh is there a more efficient or effective way of in which we can do something ? Are we encouraging our airmen to tear down the walls of the proverbial box ? You know , we need our airmen to be able to uh be capable of solving simple problems , complex complex problems , irregular problems . We need our airmen to find more innovative ways of getting the job done and not only their immediate jobs , but we also need to look to other areas where they may have stakeholders and how can we bring all of that together To help solve these problems ? I was I was looking up the weight of the brain and it says the average adult brain is £3. And so if we approximate About 480,000 airmen , that's a £1. . pound brain , that is a lot of capability . Yeah , that's definitely a lot of brainpower , sir . So developing ideas includes analytical thinking , fostering innovation and influence . Now , that may seem like a strategic level approach . So generally I know what's your advice on how airmen at all levels can hold this competency ? It's a c it's a great question because I think sometimes we believe that the general or the commander has all the ideas and uh and that's not true . I've also heard other people say that , hey , it's always the airmen at the very lowest level that has the best ideas . And you know , I certainly think airmen have great ideas , but it seems to me that what we're really trying to do by creating this competency of developing ideas is really , you're trying to do it throughout our air force throughout the organization because the commander or the general might have a good idea , but so might the airman . And there's a lot of power that comes with the interaction between talking about ideas and then making them reality . So I think the practical advice that I would give there a couple of things that come to mind . One is your valued , your your ideas are valued and please don't self select your ideas or self delete your ideas at least share them with somebody else . So you know , your friends , your your your boss , your supervisor it because almost always people see what could be where they are right now . What could be if something were the change and the Delta is really the idea right ? The like how could we make it better ? And I've almost never met an airman that didn't have an idea about how to make their job better . Well , we want you to do that . Uh We so so that's the first thing I'd say is don't be shy about it . Um I'll give you a technique that I think is actually a really interesting one . And I've counseled people to use this before in our career . We tip , we do tend to go from based debate or job to job . A lot of times we're entering a job for the first time , entering an environment for the first time . And I have to tell you that at least for me that's a time when a lot of ideas come to my mind , when I see what , you know , how this new job works , how this new organization does business and then I think about my experiences and maybe where I've seen it done better or differently in a way that that might be more positive And I counsel people that in that first say three months on the job , write down the things that you see . Uh it could be as little as boy , somebody you know that could use a good , you know , a good painting uh or it could be as monumental as I think . I have an idea of how to use information technology to streamline this process in a way that might save us , you know , a bunch of time and man hours . Uh and you know , I suspect that almost every time you change jobs it's likely you'll see things that in 3-6 months you won't see any more because you're going to be used to them by now , you know , and and so so write them down , you may not want to be the person that comes in on day one and says , well I think you want to change how you do this , you know , that sometimes doesn't go across very well . But over time what happens is you develop trust , you communicate , you understand what's going on and then you can offer those solutions , those ideas that you had along the way . I really think that's an effective technique and I've seen it work really well . Uh but I definitely think that from every level from literally from from errand , basic all the way up to all the way up to general officer that we want to cultivate a culture where ideas are welcomed and they're not judged right away . And so the practical advice I would give to every supervisor that is out there from the graduates of Airman Leadership School , all the way up to the general officers is do not kill the idea before you you understand it , don't don't don't do that . You know , there used to be a technique that people used to have , they used to have a little foamy balls in the meetings and you know , they're really like you film it and it doesn't hurt anybody . But the moment that somebody said a conversation killer or an idea killer statement , everybody in the room was supposed to throw a ball at them , you know , like like saying we've done that before , I throw the ball out of , you know , or uh yeah , that won't work here , throw the ball out of , you know , uh you know , let the idea developed to a degree where you can actually use data and make decisions . Not every idea is gonna work . In fact , most ideas won't , but that's okay . You're not looking for every idea that work . You're looking for that one idea that makes a huge difference . And in order to get to that idea , you've got to be willing to wade through all the others . And so I think practically being welcoming of the of the new ideas allowing them to grow and nurture a little bit uh is I think going to be a really big payoff for the Air force or you know , as we try to scale this competency of developing ideas . Yeah , that is fantastic advice sir . And I'm sure it means a lot to our airmen . You know , just hearing you share your thoughts on the importance of developing and sharing their ideas , no matter how big or small those ideas are . And just to wrap us up with the last question , I would love to hear from the both of you and your thoughts on what is the impact of developing ideas on the future of combat capability ? Well , I like to start off by by thinking about uh the work that we've done here in a three J and coming up with these competencies , these companies , these foundational competencies that therefore says they are important , they are important to all airmen no matter where you enlisted officer or civilian . And I think that that is key be because it gets us focus on a in a direction . And so the impact is we can start to create a deep of thinkers that have the capability to be forward and future thinkers to make sure that we keep the tip of the spear sharp and I'll let general high note take it from there . Thank you . So you can imagine we think a lot about this uh as we try to develop the Air Force of tomorrow , I don't have a lot to add except for I really , you know , think of as a leader who is responsible for uh for allowing airmen to develop these ideas and creating a culture where that's a good thing , where it's accepted and welcomed and all that . One of the things that I think we've got To to really do is to is to understand the value of the idea uh to to to understand that we will not get to a future air force that wins if we don't conceive of it in our mind . First , it has to come from our mind from that was at £1. . pound brain that we were talking about . I mean that it's got to come from there because probably not gonna come from anywhere else . We don't want to outsource our thinking to other folks who are we're gonna need the ability to conceptualize to think about the future because that is going to allow us to be proactive in getting to it . We can't predict the future . Let me tell you , I've tried . It's really , really hard uh and and it's kind of a fool's errand . But what I do believe is that we can place ourselves into a future and and have ideas about how to improve our organization , improve our capabilities , improve our warfighting competencies so that we can be good in that time so that we can win . And if we're not used to that if we're just content to do what's in front of us and and not place ourselves into that future and have the ideas and and talk about the ideas that result . Then I really worry about about the Airmen of tomorrow . But honestly about all the things that I worry about , that's not one of them . I think I worry a lot more about the fact that that we may be creating a culture where those ideas aren't welcome . But but I am I'm not at all worried that our airmen don't have great ideas about what the future of the Air force looks like . I think it's up to us to making sure that they feel comfortable in talking about them , that those ideas are taken and nourished and that some of them grow into fruition that they actually become real . And uh and if we have done that , I think this core competency will uh we'll be doing what we needed to do . Those are some great insight , sir . Thank you . And before we hop off , is there anything else you guys would like to tell our listeners ? So I would just like to just put a plug in for the for the my vector Pathfinder tool so folks can get out there and assess themselves against the foundational companies to see where they stand where they can at least get a baseline and there are the development tools that are out there that will help them to hone those those confidences and then they can take , take what they learn and put it into practice . Awesome . Thank you so much for sharing that sir . And I just wanted to add that . This tool also allows airmen to request feedback from their supervisor as well as 360° feedback from subordinates , peers or higher ranking members . Well thank you both so much . Lieutenant General Heino and Mr KM for joining me today to talk about the developing ideas group of the Air Force foundational competencies . Alright everyone as always , thank you so much for taking the time to listen to our podcast and remember for any additional podcast for any upcoming ones , you can find them on our website are David's page , Apple podcast , google play and Spotify again . Thank you so much for your time . I'm cr say from the A . T . C . Public affairs team out here . Yeah .