But before her presentation began, EBMA President, Joe Rossi welcomed guests and members to the museum noting that the last time the EBMA met there, there had been a torrential downpour.  Since this isn’t a dinner meeting, he said, we will open with a Pledge of Allegiance.  He then previewed upcoming events including Scholarship night in April at the GMI (guest speaker: EB VP Joe Walsh.)  Scholarship applications, he noted, need to be submitted to the EBMA Scholarship coordinator, Mark Zecco, by February 15.  The Kids’ Easter party will also be at the GMI on April 10^th.  Volunteers should contact Carrie Pfieffer or Eric Cushman.  This year’s Golf Tournament will be held at the New London Country Club, he said, Christine Dixon and Dawn Barrasso are the POCs for that event.  The summer picnic will be held on June 26 ^th at Lake Compounce.   

     He then turned to pressing association business: the EBMA officer elections.  He asked for new nominations (there were none) and closed the nominating period.  Voting will take place in mid-April and the new officers will be installed at the May meeting at the Mystic Marriot, he said.   He then introduced Chris Trimble noting that even though he had a substantial biographical sketch to draw from, Trimble had asked that he be introduced simply as “a former sub mariner”.  The audience welcomed Mr. Trimble with polite applause.  

    Trimble thanked Joe for his brief introduction, noting that he still had nerves of steel stemming back from his days as a “steely eyed former warrior of the deep.”  He said his schedule had been fully booked before receiving this invitation to speak, but given his submarine background, he accepted the invitation without hesitation.  He still has a strong affinity for the sub community and remembers walking through shipyards being impressed by the welding and grinding being done.   The cranes, carrying loads down the docks, also left an impression.  “But what I liked most of all,” he said, “Was playing with all of the great gadgets you folks installed on the boats.  I loved those machines.” 

   As a freshly minted officer, he said, he was eager to contribute directly to the effort, but he found himself running crews of people rather than machines.  He still had “lots of ideas” and offered his chain of command many innovative process improvement suggestions.  However “resistance to change” caused much of his input to be ignored.  He experienced a “moment of clarity” and realized that changing the Navy from within would be nearly impossible.  He decided to “accept and excel” within the system and to save his process improvement inclinations for his post-Naval career.    

     He enrolled in Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and after graduation, returned to the school to teach.  His specialty evolved into “Managing Innovative initiatives within an Organization.”  He introduced a mountain climbing allegory for the change process.  Ten thousand folks attempt Mount Rainer every year, he said, while only 5000 make it to the top.  Climbers accept the ascent as dangerous but nearly all underestimate the dangers inherent in climbing back down.  The descent, he said, is when fatigue sets in, the snow has melted and judgment may have clouded over.  Having innovative ideas, he said, is like climbing the mountain, applying and managing those ideas is analogous to a successful descent, “the most dangerous part of the journey.”

     “There is a Mount Rainer journey in every Innovation attempt,” he said.  Research, analysis, and the achievement of break-through moments are only the beginning.  Bringing ideas through to the other side is also part of the journey.  Innovation is in conflict with ongoing operations, he said, it’s “any project new to a company whose outcome is uncertain.”  There are three innovation models that work.  .

     His example of model one was from the John Deere tractor plant where a veteran worker made a manufacturing process improvement suggestion that cut her per unit production time in half.  The problem with it, he said, is that you would need 10 thousand similar ideas to impact the bottom line. It relies on employees having sufficient free time to innovate, he said, when in reality, few employees have that time available.  It relies on natural work groups, bonuses challenging goals and rising expectations.  “It encourages all employees to participate,” he said, “Everybody, every day.” 

     The second model involves extensively documenting every step of one’s process, breaking it down into hundreds or thousands of steps.  It adds tight accountability to each step in terms of cost and schedule and features specialization by component.   That specialization, he said, is mirrored in workforce relationships.  “Script it to make it efficient and to make it routine,” he said.  But its limitation is “this year’s model is just a version of last year’s model.”  The more efficient this activity is, he said, the less flexible is the end product. The third model, personified by the mythical hero, innovation man, is less understood, he said.  The strong persistent rule-breaker is an image that resonates with people; the loner who bucks the tide and comes out on top.  It’s a nice story, he said, but it’s impractical. It places less emphasis on ideas, more on hard work.  It’s 1% inspirational, he said, 99% perspirational and it embraces long odds. 

     Trimble believes that the most successful innovation efforts work parallel to existing operations.  They look for better ways to create products while still serving existing customers and meeting the business’ needs.  Products, he said, are on time and built to spec.  Performance is predictable and repeatable.  It involves the coexistence of strategy, organization and planning; and tactics for execution.  Skipping any of these steps, he warns will produce a “fatal error.”  Good ideas need leadership, a team of specialists and a plan.  He then provided details of options: different types of teams, work locations, new or existing work rules; and roles and responsibilities.    He then took several questions from the audience.

     Finally, Joe Rossi returned to the podium to thank Mr. Trimble.  At that point, Chris gave Joe a copy of his latest, yet to be published book and members offered a final round of applause.  A motion to adjourn was made and seconded.  EBMA members filed out of the museum, past the silent dark shapes of historic submarines and torpedoes that guard the entrance to one of the world’s finest museums celebrating Sub mariners.