- [Brian] You're a scientist.
You must know what it's like
to fail at something.
- Oh, yes.
- [Brian] So,
- I'm an expert at that.
- [Brian] You're an expert, (chuckles)
I am too. (laughing)
So,
what have those failures given you?
What,
- You're never a failure unless you quit.
That's the big thing.
Curiosity.
It's the desire to know
why something works.
One of your questions said,
"What are your favorite research programs?"
I don't have any favorites,
but I look for characteristics.
And one of them is this being
pursued with curiosity?
The desire to know what we don't know.
Can we look back and see that the
fundamental science that this
technology, for instance,
has come from,
and can we look ahead to see where
it is we want it to go.
So it's looking in both directions.
Back in time and forward in time.
We need people who wanna do something,
not people who want something to do.
I had met a young Air Force captain,
who had a PhD in engineering,
and he said,
"My first assignment after the PhD
"was as a contract monitor."
And he said,
"I kept wondering why did you send me
to school if this is what you want me to do?"
And I said this is still going on.
It was going on 30 years ago.
It's still going on,
how can this be?
- [Brian] Is that frustrating?
Yeah.
- Is is frustrating?
Well yeah, of course it is,
but it's more frustrating for the
people who are going through it.
Especially at a time when we really
need these people.
Right now,
the system from the Congress through
The White House,
through the Department of Defense,
and into the Air Force,
is fully behind innovation and taking risks.
But if we don't produce,
if we don't make some real gains
that may go away.
In technology,
the coin of the realm is a great idea.
Really good ideas can change the
way we do things.
It doesn't matter whether the person is,
is brand new or whether they've been
here for 25 years.
The young person with great ideas,
who infects the rest of the corps
with those ideas,
can make a profound change.
I still believe that.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét