Thoughts on Military Creativity

Along with my monthly wrap-up of articles I found interesting, occasionally I feel some articles need more response. With my background in military intelligence, process studies, and creativity, the following article is definitely one of those articles.

At its root, this article bothers me. In one paragraph it states that humans are the most creative species. Then it says there has to be model to teach creativity. If humans are so creative, why does there have to be a model to teach what is inherent to our species?

Ancient caveman did not need a course to make fire. Children do not need a course to teach them how to color the sun purple or dogs blue. It’s just what they do.

The problem with teaching military creativity is that for centuries, military forces were designed to drum out creativity. Soldiers were drilled to follow orders, walk in step, look the same, and wear the same clothes. Of course, this has been efficient for militaries from the Roman Legions to today’s forces. Especially when the rules of the battlefield are observed. High levels of force requires discipline and discipline needs order.

But creativity is needed where chaos reigns. And today’s conflicts don’t happen on fields where tanks and bombers find each other in the plains of Europe. They are far removed from the rows of British soldiers lining up and firing on order.

Today’s conflicts occur on points of least resistance. They occur in cyberspace, in media space, and in other uncontrolled spaces. They occur where opponents can cause the most disruption.

Creativity causes disruption which causes chaos. For example, look at the typical business cases of the iPod or Uber/Lyft. By creatively rethinking delivery services of music or public transportation, Apple and Uber/Lyft caused disruption in their markets which caused chaos.

For years, militaries have had to be creative on the battlefield. Special Operations are a perfect example of non-traditional thinking. The common example is the Revolutionary War, in which many…

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