About

Mission Statement
 

Disruptive Thinkers influences global leadership by disrupting existing public policy conventions through crowdsourced solutions, capturing the best military and entrepreneurial perspectives.  We act as a catalyst for military and business innovation.  

Executive Summary

Disruptive Thinkers is a decentralized think tank composed of civilian entrepreneurs and young military leaders.  Ideas, not ideology, are our source of inspiration.  We are the young innovators of our generation, tired of divisive politics, half-measures and antiquated systems.  We are the Next Generation of Leadership.

Recent years have seen grassroots organizations mobilize in the face of growing dysfunction.  The Arab Spring, Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements are reactions to an industrial age model not suited for the information age. 

Our governmental systems and established institutions cannot keep up with the democratization of ideas and the increasing velocity of innovation.  Something must change; the status quo is insufficient. Disruptive Thinkers is the Innovation Generation’s answer to finding and implementing pragmatic solutions to this stagnation.  

We have two primary missions.  The first is to break down the increasing barriers between the civilian and military worlds.  Simply put, the innovation inherent in the former could transform the bureaucracy of the latter.   Similarly, the battlefield leadership of our tested servicemembers can provide valuable lessons to business.

Disruptive Thinkers aims to be the preeminent forum for junior military leader innovation, providing an outlet for innovative ideas and a forum in which to discuss their implementation.

Second, we transcend the paralyzing ideological barriers that have prevented a full realization of the progress available to our nation.  Our focus is eliciting the best ideas, regardless of affiliation.
 

This begins with our people.  We are entrepreneurs.  We are warriors who have fought on our nation’s recent battlefields.  We are tomorrow’s workforce. We create solutions where none previously were, looking for unorthodox ways to do so.  We rely upon ties between industries and professions not often seen collaborating.  We take action instead of merely talking.

Our members include military officers, venture capitalists, lawyers, marketing experts, teachers, social entrepreneurs and non-profit presidents, among many others.  We span the political and ideological spectrum, but we all have one thing in common:  we desire a better world made possible through innovative solutions.

These solutions happen primarily through our monthly, grassroots meetings.  

A NEW APPROACH

Our approach provides an organic, bottom-up solicitation of ideas to policy questions that transcend geography, economics, and politics.

Disruptive Thinkers hosts various seminars designed to lay the groundwork for unconventional thinking.  Our seminars range from revisiting philosophy to specific issue-sets such as The Future of Energy.  Our classroom is not limited to books and articles; we push our members to prepare for each discussion by utilizing today’s vast array of information, be they printed or digital, downloaded or streaming.

Each seminar is led by a different member or local expert, and may be tailored to local issues and challenges.  Free-wheeling discussions between exceptional, curious minds are paramount.  From these exchanges, our members provide collaborative answers to common policy questions.

WE SPEAK LOUDLY. WE INNOVATE. WE INSPIRE

Once culled through open-sourced collaboration, the ideas are put forward for action.  Ad hoc teams within or across cells can choose to undertake the implementation of these ideas, through further non-profits, small businesses or legislative action.  We are the creative classroom for those who don’t want to just read about our generation’s biggest challenges, but also solve them.  

Far from merely proposing solutions, Disruptive Thinkers fosters relationships between inspired innovators. When exceptional thinkers and doers meet, sparks fly.  Inspiration incubates.  And innovation happens.  Disruptive Thinkers is the future of collaborative policy making and entrepreneurship.

Join us, and discover what happens.