By MC2 Danica M. Sirmans

NPS' Center for Executive Education (CEE) welcomes a group of senior military and Department of Defense leaders to campus, kicking off the latest Leading Innovation Energy Application Focus (LIEAF) Workshop, Jan. 12. The five-day workshop exposes leadership to new ideas and best practices in innovation, focused on the application of its core lessons learned to the Navy's energy challenges.

Retired Vice Adm. Mike Vitale and Marine Corps Col. Jim Caley, in addition to several NPS faculty, offered their varied perspectives on key innovation issues, especially in relation to energy. CEE Faculty Director for Innovation Initiatives, Dr. Neal Thornberry is one of the organizers for the five-day seminar.

"We are often asked to innovate in organizations that have a lot of built in obstacles which have developed over the years. Rules, processes, and procedures that were once meant to be helpful guidelines for behavior have morphed into bureaucratic nightmares for the innovator," said Thornberry.

"Innovation is a tool not a destination … You can't innovate without mistakes, it's impossible," he continued. "In the LIEAF seminar, we want to open the aperture so that participants can see the art of the possible instead of just accepting the status quo … Our main goal is to help the leaders in our course to utilize innovation thought and action to do more with less and to do it smartly."