Press Room
Panel: Creativity in Homeland Security
U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Robert Papp and Deidre Lee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offered interesting perspectives on how creativity contributes to the (some might say, unlikely) area of Homeland Security, specifically in the Coast Guard and FEMA.
Papp noted that a creative mindset doesn’t need to be technology-oriented. He cited examples from Coast Guard rescues during the Katrina disaster, where “Coasties” as he referred to the Coast Guard officers, had to depend on their wits and quick-thinking to find tools to break through an attic to rescue hurricane victims.
Lee took on the task of describing how an organization faces a perceived failure, like FEMA’s response to Katrina, and draws on its own creativity to address communication and strategic issues to move forward.
Moderator Stephen Wehrenberg summed up the panel discussion this way:
In order to foster creativity an organization needs to:
- encourage and reward creativity
- turn creative thinking into action
- allow people to take risks
- be truthful
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Top to bottom: Stephen Wehrenberg; Vice Admiral Papp; Deidre Lee. All photos by Kaveh Sardari. These and many other high-resolution images from the National Conference on the Creative Economy may be viewed and purchased from www.sardari.com.
