My 1-year anniversary at SpaceX

The thing I gained the most from last year's career pivot is a new awareness that operational strategy can be the major source of competitive advantage in any industry.

On November 9th, 2020 I started my first day in a new industry at SpaceX on a new coast and in a new function and role. I came because I was inspired by the mission of the company's satellite internet constellation Starlink and I thought I would learn about their approach to innovation. So far, I've gained very different insights about how to organize program operations than I otherwise would have if I had chosen to stay on the nonprofit career path I was on or even taken roles at other companies. 

This is important because the operational insights that I've learned at SpaceX can be applied to the promotion of human progress and environmental sustainability. 

The program requirements community-based organizations face are starting to look more and more like the dynamic requirements SpaceX's products have.

For starters program volunteers, program staff, and donors each have rising expectations for the organizations they join and commit to for greater speed and responsiveness, program effectiveness, and program benefits relative to their costs. 

Technology has made so many things in our lives more convenient and accessible. We expect the organizations and causes we join to be the same way. 

I intend to learn more about what it is like to tailor the operational insights I'm learning at SpaceX in support of hardware development and production rate to global program management. Many of these themes were the subject of a series of guest lecturers I provided this Fall at the University of Texas Austin's Design School. 

I'm helping SpaceX stand up a global social impact initiative focused on digital connectivity outside of my core responsibilities in Starlink Supply Chain Operations. This is fascinating to me because we are doing things in a very SpaceX way and achieving high impact much faster than more traditional philanthropic approaches could. In the world of digital connectivity, this means the difference between weeks and months vs years. 

I will never know for certain if my decision to forego other career opportunities and experiences for this one was the correct one. But I do commit to meeting this moment and the moments to come with more of an appreciation for how operational strategy can be a major source of competitive advantage in any industry.