Leaders choose to innovate, not because it is easy but because it is hard. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
The successful launch of the Artemis 1 rocket sends a powerful message about the country’s commitment to the next generation of lunar exploration. But the magnitude of the Artemis technology and the audacity of its goals combine to send a broader message to organizational leaders on the virtues of informed risk-taking. It’s a message first movingly expressed in a speech by President John F. Kennedy 60 years ago.
Virtually every aspect of the unmanned Artemis is breathtakingly ambitious: from its launch system (the most powerful rocket ever constructed by NASA), to its mission (a steppingstone to deep space exploration) and especially its journey (flying thousands of miles beyond the moon on a 1.3 million-mile itinerary lasting 42 days).
“But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?”
The question of “Why” lays at the root of any consideration of bold and risky initiatives. Is the effort necessary to achieve organizational goals, or is it merely an expensive and distracting lark? For President Kennedy it was a political decision. linking the effort with the Cold War, national power and the preservation of space flight for scientific progress, not military leverage. For NASA today, it’s all about the science, and a pathway towards a manned Mars mission. And for an organization, it goes to its reason for being: just exactly why are we in business, if not to take risks in support of our mission?
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
The pursuit of innovation and other challenging initiatives is most often a choice, not a reaction. It is most often seized by, and not thrust upon, an organization. For President Kennedy, it was a matter of public destiny; a choice to embrace space exploration as the true “new frontier” for mankind. For NASA today, it’s about going beyond Apollo, and taking the next step in mankind’s journey of progress. And for an organization, it’s often the difficult but exciting decision to re-imagine the company in order to secure its long-term future.
“Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills...”
The most rewarding of innovative endeavours are those that offer not only the tangible, but also the intangible, benefits. For President Kennedy, those benefits lay beyond the actual moon landing, to the collateral societal benefits of scientific advancement. For NASA today, it’s about the hope and success of technology designed to support a long-term program of human space exploration. For an organization, it’s about the impact that thoughtful yet ambitious strategies often have on the morale and spirit of the workforce, a critical corporate asset.
“Because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others too.”
Much of the excitement of innovation arises from its fundamental urgency – a beckoning, competitive nature that is hard to resist and, fundamentally, part of the American spirit. For President Kennedy, it was to get to the moon first and win the space race with all of its attendant implications. For NASA today, the challenge is to build a pathway to both a permanent lunar presence, and to a human mission to Mars. For an organization, the goal of innovation is to unify the workforce behind an effort to be the first to introduce a new product, a new service, a new idea.
The audacity of Artemis lies in its fundamental conflict with the current state of public unease. That with a volatile social discourse, world-wide crises, a ruptured economy and a gridlocked government, now is the time for leaders of all stripes to exercise caution, not to be sending a breathtakingly expensive spaceship into the Twilight Zone.
But that’s also the brilliance of Artemis, with its invitation to not only the public, but also to commerce, to accept that distinctly pioneering spirit reflected in a return to space exploration. Yes, Artemis may fail-a lot can go wrong in a journey into the unknown and unexplored. But efforts to improve the sum of human knowledge always carry an unshakable nobility.
And let’s not forget the exciting recent success of the “DART” asteroid-buster, and the LOFTID “inflatable flying saucer,” intended to assist spacecraft in landing on the lunar surface. NASA is beginning to throw the innovation deep ball, and is completing it.
The Artemis mission is a confirmation that fairness doesn’t punish those who experiment, who pursue new ventures, who explore the uncharted— if conceived in a thoughtful, discerning way. Nor does fairness condemn those who move boldly in search of discovery or knowledge, but ultimately come up short.
Ultimately, Artemis is a reminder of the rewards that await individuals, constituencies and organizations that choose their own destiny, instead of waiting to have it foisted upon them.
The full transcript of President Kennedy’s September 12, 1962 speech at Rice University can be accessed HERE.
