Show Notes
Today, Tyler chats with Lauren Hansen-Armendariz, a national security innovator and design thinking facilitator. Lauren recently concluded her service with the Army after nine years of active duty in the Army. Her last post was as the Innovation Officer within XVIII Airborne Corps, giving her a distinct perspective on the way the Defense department approaches innovation and technology use. In this episode, she opens up to Tyler about some changes, both tangible and philosophical, that she believes would serve both soldiers and the greater mission through boosting morale, increasing retention, and driving innovation at an unprecedented scale.
What’s Happening on the Second Front:
- Dealing with ‘innovation fiefdoms’ that often prevent scaling
- Becoming ambidextrous: Why we need to execute and invest in parallel
- Lauren’s constructive criticisms for the Army
- Tips for empowering your team to drive innovation and retention
Connect with Lauren: LinkedIn
Connect with Tyler: LinkedIn | Website
This show is produced by Soulfire Productions
Top Relevant Quotes:
“I love to work in the ambiguity because that’s where you get to be creative and work with people you haven’t worked with before.”
Lauren - 5:42
“We have to be ambidextrous and be able to execute and invest at the same time. If we’re only focused on executing and we’re not learning how to make things better, we need to institutionalize a way to extract that where we can all work together to develop that. The onus has to be across all of our partners.”
Lauren - 15:32
“We have this propensity as leaders to think that we’re the ones coming up with ideas, but the key to retention is to unlock the talent within your organization so that they’re the ones coming up with the ideas.”
Lauren - 25:08