That is as it should be in an experimentation program. That is how we learn. If everything we do succeeds, we're not pushing the edge of the envelope hard enough. The Evolution of the Revolution. I've spelled out in the broadest terms the necessary components of a transformation process that supports creative people, provides opportunities to excel, ensures resources for transformation, promotes changes in culture and structure, guarantees that the next generation of leadership is open to innovation, and institutionalizes the innovation process.
Much work remains to be done on the details.
Some of the more pressing issues will be explored at the Naval War College in the spring 2000 intersessional conference on innovation in the Navy. Others will be hammered out in fleet battle experiments, war games, and a variety of decision-support events. A few solutions will offer themselves quickly, others will require extensive analysis. It is clear that real transformation will not be easy. Ultimately, advantage will be gained not by optimizing on the fringes of the known but by imperfectly seizing the unknown.