Rickover as role model

Admiral Hyman Rickover was born just into the 20th century in a part of Russia that is now Poland.  His father, a tailor, brought the family to the U.S. in 1906.  Hyman learned English in school, worked full-time through high school, got a recommendation to the U.S. Naval Academy from which he graduated and later he earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University.

While in the Navy, he specialized in submarines and developed the design for the first nuclear submarine.  In addition, it was primarily he who conceived of the unique strategic role submarines now play in national defense:  they are essentially little pieces of the U.S., always moving, virtually invulnerable to attack and always able to deliver a  response to any assault.

It was in the Navy of the early part of the 1900's that Rickover realized he was not likely to make Admiral because he was Jewish -- there had never been a Jewish admiral and there was no mentor system in place that made it look like Rickover would make it in his lifetime.  But that was only the case for the Navy as it existed then -- if the Navy were to add another dimension of service that was new and for which there was no social infrastructure of gatekeepers protecting the top spots, Rickover would have a chance.

Rickover is widely recognized as the "father of the nuclear navy."  He established its structure; he placed the headquarters of development and operations in ... Idaho.  He wanted a place where the traditional Navy brass and members of Congress were unlikely to "drop by" -- Virginia, right by the ocean, was an obviously bad spot because existing Navy officers would take an interest; Idaho Falls, however, which had no direct airline connections to anything outside Idaho and Utah, was perfect.

And Rickover made admiral in part by creating a new dimension of naval doctrine, a new way to think and operate with naval forces, and because it was new and positions were outside the existing bureaucracy, those outside bureaucratic favor could more easily rise to positions of real influence.

There is something of a parallel in the rise of alternative, citizen journalism.  There are many who are gifted observers and analysts of current events and who are articulate in expressing their insights.  But because of the vagaries of life, they didn't get the right credentials or make the right social connections or gather the right experience and the result was that the journalist bureaucracy that is a key part of allocating positions within mainstream journalism provided them with no outlet for their work.

To reach positions of influence, they had to create a new dimension to the doctrine of journalism and they had to have the technology to make that dimension a reality.  In much the same way that Rickover saw a strategic role for submarines that hadn't been seen before and at the same time was able to harness the technology to put that doctrine into practice (a single nuclear sub could stay under for six months or more at a time with an absolute minimum of communication and could carry a delivery payload that was truly strategic in magnitude), these citizen journalists conceived of a role for themselves that is meaningful within journalism and they have been able to harness a technology that makes that role a reality.

The combination of ability, ambition, technology and a new strategic concept made the nuclear navy not just a one-generation gambit for Rickover to make admiral but a reshaping force for the key role the navy plays in defense.  Likewise, it may be that this same combination in the field of journalism will make what started off as daily diaries supported by software developed by a young couple in their apartment (Six Apart) the Idaho Falls of journalism -- remote enough from the centers of powers that the truly big players took little interest and set aside no time to "drop by" to see what was developing.  And by the time they did direct their interest to this new dimension of journalism -- populated by people "in their pajamas,"  "in the bathroom," and various other non-traditional types -- it had legs, it could stand on its own and it had its own voice in journalism.  And, more importantly, a strategic vision that made it something more than an a side route into traditional journalistic positions -- it was creating a new dimension in the journalism doctrine.

Matt Drudge's paid assistant, Andrew Breitbart, recently said to a group of journalists that because traditional journalism made no room for people like Drudge, they were forced to create their own route.  Whether it is in every way better or worse than existing journalism isn't so much the point here; rather, the fact that this form of citizen journalism is now recognized by Time Magazine, that it is the target of impassioned assaults from enfranchised journalists at major newspapers, that it is implicated in the bringing down of a "big three" network news anchor -- this would be enough to convince Rickover that it was part of something strategic, not merely tactical, and could have not only staying power but, eventually, genuinely significant influence.

Rickover was famous for saying that "good ideas and innovations must be driven into existence by courageous patience."  After the exhilarating ride of new ideas coupled with technological innovation, patience can be the hardest part.  Rickover is again the role model -- keep building the base in Idaho Falls until your strategic worth cannot be denied.  And when Rickover was ultimately invited into the select circle of full admirals in the Navy, he still kept his base in Idaho.  That was actually a contributor to the strategic value of the nuclear navy.

That may be worth keeping in mind when ABC recognizes bloggers as it's "people of the year" and devotes a video to "the power of the blog" and capitalizes "blog."  It's not quite like making admiral, but it is clearly a promotion from "guys in pajamas."