Guillermo Söhnlein

Disruptive Innovation in the Post-Titan World

For one week in June 2023, the entire world was captivated by an intensive four-day search for the crew of a five-person research submersible named Titan believed to be lost at the bottom of the Atlantic. The global media frenzy focused on the arch-villain co-founder/CEO of the company that built and owned the sub, portraying him as a charismatic con-man who duped innocent wealthy “tourists” in order to finance his effort to “innovate” and “disrupt” the ocean exploration status quo.

• Human exploration has always involved risk of injury or even death.
• Disruptive innovation has always faced entrenched resistance.
• Breaking “conventional wisdom” is hard, and more so when it is institutionalized.
• “Not accepted” is not the same as “wrong”, just ask Galileo.
• There is no easy answer for how to “break rules” in order to move forward.

Could Venus Become Humanity’s Second Home?

Mars has always captivated our imaginations as a potential destination for humanity, and charismatic evangelists like Elon Musk, Bob Zubrin, and Buzz Aldrin certainly help promote that narrative. As the world’s major space nations push outward from Earth’s orbit to the Moon’s surface, the prospect of a future community on Mars seems ever more possible. However, what about Venus? Could that also emerge as yet another alternative second home for the human species?

• Mars has only 38% of Earth’s gravity, and there is no way for us to create artificial gravity there.
• We don’t know if homo sapiens can reproduce in <1G of gravity.
• However, Venus has 98% of Earth’s gravity.
• The surface of Venus is completely inhospitable, with extreme heat and pressure.
• Scientists believe that 50km into the Venusian atmosphere we may find Earth-like conditions.
• Venus is also our closest planetary neighbor, so flights there are cheaper and safer.
• We already have technology to overcome its CO2 atmosphere and sulfuric acid clouds.
• Believe it or not, the “cloud city” from Star Wars may actually become real on Venus!

Explorers & Entrepreneurs: Leadership Principles to Push the Envelope

In many ways, exploration and entrepreneurship are quite similar, especially since they require special forms of leadership to succeed in risky–and potentially dangerous–situations. Some are born leaders, but the best are students of their craft and hone their skills through a lifetime of practice. They all follow principles the rest of us can also follow.

• Why “leadership” is different than “management”.
• Good leaders have a “default” leadership style, but they master several.
• Great leaders not only seek to inspire but also to connect.
• Empathy and humility are perhaps the most paradoxical leadership traits.
• “Natural” leaders may have an edge, but leadership can definitely be taught.

Developing Sustainable Communities in Space–to save Earth

The term “sustainability” is perhaps one of the most over-used in the 21st century. On a global scale, it seems like an overwhelming endeavor to make Earth “sustainable” for 8 billion people.

In fact, over a decade ago the UN created its 17 “Sustainable Development Goals”, and today we are no closer to achieving even one of them. However, as some of us strive to make humanity a multi-planet species by establishing communities in space, this effort may actually hold the key to helping to solve at least some of these issues.

• What makes a community “sustainable”?
• Why lack of money (or human resources) is NOT the cause of our problems.
• Adopting an abundance mindset is one of the keys here on Earth, but not in space.
• What it takes to make a permanent off-world community sustainable.
• What lessons can we draw from space and apply to Earth.

The Silicon Valley Mindset & Why Failure Must Absolutely Be an Option

During the Apollo 13 emergency, NASA’s famed Flight Director, Gene Kranz, was quoted as saying, “failure is not an option”. However, the mantra around Silicon Valley is “fail early, fail often.” So, which is it? The way the human mind is wired, we tend to learn much more from failure than from success. Whether we like it or not, in order to succeed we must absolutely be willing to risk failure.

• Silicon Valley is an outlier, but then again so is NASA.
• Statistically, most successful entrepreneurs fail at least twice before succeeding.
• Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk are exceptions that prove the rule.
• Different cultures view failure differently, as do different industries and companies.
• While pursuing success, failure should not be a surprise alternative.
• Planning for failure is almost as important as planning for success.

Explorers Can Never Truly Answer the “Why?” Question, But You Should

Every explorer that has ever embarked on an ambitious and likely dangerous journey has always been asked the inevitable question: “Why are you doing this?” Most of them come up with canned well- rehearsed answers that are only mildly convincing. The truth is that they don’t really know why. They are just doing what makes sense to them. However, examining the explorer’s mindset can help the rest of us manage the struggles we face in our own lives.

• Staying in our comfort zone is a logical survival instinct.
• Venturing outside of our comfort zone is quite counter-intuitive.
• For the long-term survival of a species, SOME individuals MUST explore
• Ant colonies and bee hives are perfect examples from nature.
• Even non-explorers should occasionally “explore”.

Entrepreneurship Lessons for Corporate Innovation

We all know that entrepreneurs have to be just a little bit crazy to willingly take on a project that will completely consume their lives for a few years and still have an incredibly high risk of failure. The startup life is certainly not for everyone. However, there are many lessons these brave souls can teach established businesses looking to add “innovation” into their corporate cultures.

• Embracing failure as a potential outcome.
• Identifying and managing risk.
• Understanding and clearly articulating a “why”.
• Developing a sufficiently large BHAG.
• Building a professional network.
• Promoting “servant leadership”.