William Cavanaugh is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Discovery and innovation at USF. He attended the US Navy where he became a nuclear marine officer. He has been an amazing leader through his career and has worked in companies such as Arkansas, Louisana, and Missisissipi Power & Light. He has been revolutionary in the nuclear energy field and has changed the way the industry works. Thanks to him, today we have safer nuclear plants with better levels of performance and the institution of a peer review process to ensure safety and implementation of best practices. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the field, including the Award for Industry Leadership.
When Dr. Cavanaugh entered the field he encountered that everyone was following the status quo. Everyone was doing stuff the same way. However, he wanted improvement and many considered him a maverick and difficult. This is a characteristic of a great innovator, “Innovators DNA” by Dryer (2009, he went with what he believed in and tried to change the field, even if others found it unnecessary. He also considers that the nation should never rely on only one source of energy. It’s a big mistake, and this is a historical lesson that can be learned from the Arab oil embargo when the US had an oil crisis. Dr. Cavannauh encourages us to learn from our mistakes and look at the larger picture like we learn in “Where Good ideas come from” by Johnson (2013).
During his talk, Dr. Cavanaugh told us about the many accidents that have occurred in power plants worldwide. For example, 3-mile island, Chernobyl and the most recent was the Japanese Fukushima incident in 2011. He personally had to face one of these catastrophes in 3-mile island. He had to make the decision of whether to shut off the plant or keep it running. He made the decision that would keep everyone safe, however, the CEO lost his job due to this decision and there were millions of dollars lost. As an innovator like we have learned in class, it's important to follow your instincts and do what’s ethical, this ties to the “Innovators DNA” by Dryer (2009) Additionally, he not only face this catastrophe but as an innovator, he learned from it and saw an opportunity. An opportunity to completely change the field and make nuclear plants safer worldwide. He is a great example of an innovator because he sees opportunities even in harsh times like shown in “Where good ideas come from” by Johnson (2013). He explored the problem in depth and then discovered its causes: design issues, poor emergency response, and training. So he created a response and pushed for better design, and training. I think this connects to “Blueprinting an idea” as well as the motivation module. He saw that his company had a downfall but he didn't see it as an end. As Carol Dweck explained by in her TED Talk “The power of believing that you can improve”. He saw it as “not yet” and decided to improve it as much as possible.
Once someone asked me “When are we gonna stop changing?” I looked at her and I said “never”
As a response to all these issues, he proposed having peer reviews of all plants, improving communication, share best practices as experiences. After these changes, plants in America became the best units in the world. However, he told us that improvement is only possible with money and staff. This highlights something we have previously covered in class, the importance of resources. Additionally, he showed us the importance of “culture”. To create innovation is important to have a fluid culture of innovation and free thought. It is necessary to create a professional environment that fosters innovation. He told us that in his company the goal is “ find new and better ways of doing business, adopt best practices and then improve them”. This creates a never-ending culture of change and improvement. He also told us that employees who take risks are not punished, but they are incentivised and recognized. He wants them to avoid complacency. There is no penalty for failure, but instead, it is seen as a good learning experience. This keeps employee morale high and makes them change agents. I believe that by doing this he is encouraging his employees to become great innovators as shown in “5 skills that Innovative leaders have in common”, Graham- Levis (2016).
“You have to continue to believe and never give up”
How to learn from this innovator and improve yourself as an innovative thinker:
I learned many important lessons from Dr. Cavanaugh. I learned to never accept status quo and follow what I believe is right. If ever encounter myself in an industry that seems stagnant and in need of change I will do my best not to be complacent and foster change and innovation. This has the potential to turn people against me and like he said some people are “gonna have to leave the bus”. It is important to surround yourself with people who support you and are capable of creating change.
Another important lesson is to work with people smarter than you. It is always important to be humble and recognize that there is always someone that might have more expertise than you and can be a great aid. For example having a mentor has helped many of the innovators we have and has launched them into success. Lastly, the importance of communication. It is crucial to be on board with your team and make sure everyone's voice is being heard. Having healthy relationships within the workplace improves the quality of work and helps the innovation process.
Questions:
1. In your career have you ever felt discouraged or like giving up? If so, what has kept you going?
2. Nuclear power is controversial and causes a lot of fear in the general population. How do you think this fear can be diminished and how would you better explain it to those that are uninformed?
3. How did you overcome being surrounded by people that refused to adopt change and innovation? Are there any necessary steps to get people on board?
