Build Playlists
Disruptive Thinkers, a tribute to the organization’s original name, is a media platform curated by the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum. It seeks to inspire, connect, and empower people in the national security community in order to promote a culture of innovation. There are lots of ways to contribute.
One of the fun things about being a non-profit is that DEF is really open to creating mission-driven value wherever we can.
This platform started by lowering barriers to writing for people passionate about innovation in national security. We then expanded to capturing stories of those hard-charging intrapreneurs. Now you can listen-up for more.
Literally: you can listen on Spotify.
We know there are way too many good podcasts out there, and recommending entire shows to the community would be unsustainable, so we are going to curate playlists of DEF members’ favorite episodes. (We are also experimenting with our own podcasts, if you want to follow along.)
The hypothesis is that we can start with a few topical playlists and also do monthly playlists. So, if you want to dive deep on, say, artificial intelligence, you can hear great content recommended by people in the community. If you are into a more varied mix, then each month we’ll post one with all sorts of topics to pick through.
It’s nice to listen and learn while driving to work, going on a run, doing chores, whatever. We hope that this approach will help connect people, not just just with content, but with each other. For this reason, we’ll post why each episode was recommended, and by who, which will allow you to connect and learn with others in the community.
✅ What Are We Looking For?
- We’re here to help tackle challenges and change culture across the national security enterprise — this means not just those in the military or intelligence organizations, but many related fields.
- You can see a list of current playlists we are curating by going to our Spotify account, but you can always submit something else or something more general that’s of interest to the community to our monthly playlist.
- In general, we care about topics like culture, entrepreneurship, leading change, emerging technology, and national security history. If you are in doubt, the form is short, so just submit and we’ll let you know!
- Because this is a DEF blog, we expect everyone who submits or is featured be part of the community; if you found this post and are interested, but not yet part of the virtuous insurgency, it’s free and easy to join.
- We want to feature the best of the best, so not every entry will be featured, nor right away. You can increase the chance of your contribution being listed by providing a clear and concise description with your submission.
🚫 What Won’t Make the Cut?
This effort is by and for the DEF community. That means a few things, which we’ve simplified into “no-go territory”:
- We will not publish podcasts by anyone whose activities are inconsistent with our mission (promote a culture of innovation in the U.S. national security community) or values (action-oriented, agile, decentralized, inclusive, people-focused).
- We will not publish podcasts on politics or that delve into political debates. Our charter is explicitly apolitical, so we don’t even touch it.
- We will not publish about anyone in a way that promotes a specific commercial product or service (our goal is to spread ideas, not ads) or that degrades or attacks anyone (we just won’t promote that kind of behavior).
Got a podcast in mind that doesn’t violate those simple conditions? Great!
Other Things to Know 🐝
Articles are also shared with DEF followers on social media and other communication channels, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and The Dispatch, our email newsletter.
We will link to the preferred social profile of each person whose content is selected for that topic or month. You can input that link when submitting.
Each post include a brief explainer at the very end (like the one at the bottom of this post) that talks about what DEF is and how people can get involved.
How Do I Get Started? 🎧
We want to hear from you! This is an entirely community-driven project, which means it’s only as good as the podcasts you submit.
Let us know your ideas, questions, or concerns in the comments, or email us at hello@def.org.
Got a great episode in mind? Give us a shout on the form below to get the ball rolling.
Turn it up! 😃
The Defense Entrepreneurs Forum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that inspires, connects and empowers people by convening events, forging partnerships and delivering tangible solutions. Our mission is to promote a culture of innovation in the U.S. national security community.
If you are a civil servant, military member, academic, entrepreneur, policymaker, or technologist (or just find the idea of helping solve tough problems enticing), we’d love to have you join the DEF Community!
