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  • September 2019 (Revised September 2020)
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SOFWERX: Innovation at U.S. Special Operations Command (Abridged)

By: Herman Leonard, Mitch Weiss, Jin Hyun Paik and Kerry Herman
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:19
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Abstract

James "Hondo" Geurts, the Acquisition Executive for U.S. Special Operations Command was in the middle of his Senate confirmation hearing in 2017 to become Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. Overseeing acquisitions in one of the most secretive parts of the U.S. military, Geurts had founded SOFWERX, an open platform to diversify and speed the rate of new ideas into Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, and the like. His approach helped source the idea for the EZ-Fly, a hoverboard, from a YouTube video. At his confirmation hearing, the Senators’ questions had a common theme: How should things like SOFWERX and protypes like the EZ-Fly find a place within the Navy writ large? How would Geurts's experience running an innovative procurement effort for U.S. Special Forces units enable him to change a much larger—and much more rigid—organization like the U.S. Navy?

Keywords

Open Innovation; Crowdsourcing; Prototyping; Navy; Entrepreneurship; Public Equity; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Administration Industry; United States

Citation

Leonard, Herman, Mitch Weiss, Jin Hyun Paik, and Kerry Herman. "SOFWERX: Innovation at U.S. Special Operations Command (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 820-047, September 2019. (Revised September 2020.)
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About The Authors

Dutch Leonard

General Management
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Mitchell B. Weiss

Entrepreneurial Management
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Related Work

    • September 2019 (Revised September 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    SOFWERX: Innovation at U.S. Special Operations Command (Abridged)

    By: Herman Leonard, Mitch Weiss, Jin Hyun Paik and Kerry Herman
    • October 2020
    • Faculty Research

    SOFWERX: Innovation at U.S. Special Operations Command (Abridged)

    By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Kerry Herman
Related Work
  • SOFWERX: Innovation at U.S. Special Operations Command (Abridged) By: Herman Leonard, Mitch Weiss, Jin Hyun Paik and Kerry Herman
  • SOFWERX: Innovation at U.S. Special Operations Command (Abridged) By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Kerry Herman
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