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“Smart failures” ~ Gov2.0 interview with Air Force Emerging Technology Chief

“We shouldn’t be afraid to fail.”
“Let’s make smart mistakes.”

At TWTRCON DC in October, I had an inspiring and enlightening conversation with Air Force Emergency Technology Chief Capt. Chris Sukach. Capt. Sukach not only gave real-world examples of Gov2.0 success and failure, she addressed the need to have a culture of “smart mistakes” head-on.

Both in our interview and in her panel discussion, Capt. Sukach was refreshingly blunt and honest about the dangers of a “no-failure” culture in government, calling it an elephant in the room that stifled innovation and greater success. Capt. Sukach described one of the mistakes the Air Force’s social media team made with auto responders on YouTube, and explained how that failure became a valuable learning experience.

I have a lot of respect for Capt Sukach and Paul Bove, one of their lead social media implementers. If they aren’t well known yet in the Gov2.0 world, they will be.

Over on my “Frontlines Social Media” blog, I have a series of podcast excerpts from the interview with Capt. Sukach. They’re a great insight into both what the Air Force is doing and the policies and principles they’re bringing to military social media.

Check it out and tell me what you think.

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