Yesterday I spent the day in meetings in Washington DC talking to various parts of the Federal government on how to accelerate innovation driven business development in the USA.

As I reflected on the meetings this morning I realized that what I “saw” was very different than my perceptions of Washington and not at all like the perceptions the media gives us.

Here’s a run down of my  meetings yesterday…

Meeting #1: Passion for Making Things Happen: In my first meeting the person quickly grasped the opportunity and immediately turned the conversation into “how can you help my customers.”   By customers I mean the people that his organization is designed to serve.   With those ideas defined – he then reached beyond his department and gave us 4 names and phone numbers of people we could connect to who could help make it happen.  These were people in the government and in non-profits outside of the government.

Meeting #2 Bias for Action: After reviewing results from our pilot program – this senior leader made instant connections on how a part of her organization could help the cause of innovation.  Then, rather then set up another meeting she went and got the leader of the group and had him sit and listen.  The meeting closed with very specific and direct action steps.

Meeting #3 Really, Really Smart: Meeting three was an in depth discussion of how innovation can drive real jobs and real wealth in the country.  It was not a meeting for the “faint of heart” – it reminded me of a P&G Budget Meeting Inquisition.  The people in the meeting were not interested in B.S..  Over one hour and forty five minutes they dove really deep into what our plans were – what we knew as fact – and what was opinion.  They gave ideas – advice and criticism where appropriate.  It was an amazingly wonderful and intelligent conversation.

Meeting #4 Change Agents: Meeting four was invigorating. I was at a government department that is undergoing incredible change from the old world to the new (note this change started in the past administration – and is being continued in this administration – so this is not a political thing).   I was with career staff – not political appointees.  I was really impressed by their openness and commitment to figuring out how to make the right changes in the right ways.

Added together it was a wicked cool day.   Now I’m sure that within a mega bureaucracy  there exists a “bell curve” of great and horrible.  And probably because I was talking innovation I was talking to those to the right of the curve.

Filed under: Doug's Soap Box