Comment Originally Posted at NASAWATCH
It’s kinda sad…these words do serve as a good lesson, but it’s unfortunate that his actions over the years did not serve to be as inspirational.
Without question, the next generation needs to be well educated in a way that parallels Mike Griffin’s dedication of focus and fighting the distraction of pop-culture. However, Dr Griffin’s performance over the years also exemplifies a problem frequently found among many nerds who are in charge: mediocre communication and leadership skills.
Communication and Leadership training should be part and parcel to any qualified Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education program. You may be the worlds best expert; but if you cannot convince those who need to DO but also FUND your ideas, than you’re going to suffer the kinds of consequences as we’ve seen over these past few years. It is ironic, however, that NASA actually has a STEM education and leadership program. The NASA Academy that was designed to develop NASA’s next leaders, but true to NASA fashion, it has consistently been under the threat of the budgetary axe.
That said we must keep in mind that Dr. Griffin has also been crippled by the so called ‘leaders’ he must follow. Folks like Paul Shawcross, Clay Johnson and others with unhelpful or negative attitudes at the OMB and OSTB that Dr. Griffin has clearly had to deal with. These folks share a lot of the blame for the troubles that NASA has and do need to be held publicly accountable. Hopefully with Obama’s choices in Peter Orszag & Rob Nabors will continue to illicit change in these departments.
It’s sad that Mike is going to get a legacy that he may not fully deserve, but it is in times like these that a real leader would realize it’s time to go.