Society has, as one of its base survival techniques, the reinforced training and education of its participants, beginning at an early age. In order to manifest value to its citizenry, it acts to foster the necessary social and economic skills to maintain the current status quo. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a reliance on complacency, leading to a more reactive, rather than proactive, culture. In order to break society of this contentment a more proactive mode of operation will require a more individualized approach in developing specialized skills, such as leadership, within its population. Leadership, a basic survival instinct in men and women, has the potential to provide individuals with the proactive capability to solve problems more effectively and to anticipate the future needs of the societies they guide. This paper addresses these issues and provides an example of a practice routine for improving the leadership capabilities of our youth.

The conceptualization, nourishment and propagation of new technologies, as a key, active component in theaccelerated growth of a technologically advanced or industrialized society, relies on the understanding and development oftwo individual but highly interconnected competencies: leadership and innovation. These are the two fundamental attributesthat have encouraged the successful development of most major technologies in production today. They are also the sourcefor most of the highly successful commercial and industrial organizations currently operating globally. It is the state ofhealth of these two linked competencies that often determines the longevity and profitability of these organizations and, to alarge extent, the societies that spawn and house them. It is also through their successful integration that those sametechnologies are encouraged to evolve and to fuel the imaginations of the next set of great leaders and innovators. It can thusbe postulated that the stewardship of innovation and leadership determines the potential success and the rate of advancementof a modern society and, as a corollary, the lack thereof its decay, or at best its stagnation. This discussion is directed to thetwo characteristics of leadership and innovation and how they create value through integration and how we as a society gainfrom this successful union.This article is, therefore, dedicated to anything, or anyone, that might lead us to innovation, in all of its forms, along with theleadership that is often the springboard, or tipping point, in making it all happen. It is through the innovative process wherewe all get the chance to generate creative thought. It should therefore become our common goal to encourage others topursue their own personal view, or quest, for the future, while in other cases, to simply get out of the way of those who aretrying to do the same. Change, while often uncomfortable, and habitually avoided or ignored, is the nature of anyprogressive system. Staying ahead of the problems created by change while jumping even farther ahead is a prerequisite tosuccess and continued growth. The result of this constant requirement to advance the elements of a modern society, whilescary, also forces the participants to live at the edge of their comfort zones. An innovative change, in any form will bring youto that edge. Therefore, it has become clear that innovators, and their dedicated leadership, will continue to add to theexcitement in all of our lives, whether we are ready for it or not

There is an old adage that reads “the suffering of fools”, which for this paper is the passive form of the “stop doing stupid” in the title. For either of these sayings the key concern when dealing with foolishness is not only the loss of resources, in time and money, that result from this indulgence and tolerance, but more importantly the direct impact that not objecting can have on morale and the long-term effectiveness of any decision-making process. Whether it is during the teaching of students, the management of people and business processes or more importantly the highly involved and visionary leadership process, the need to speak up and to try to mitigate stupid and wasteful interruptions has become an essential requirement if we are to continue to grow socially and economically. This paper has been prepared to make the case for taking the road less travelled, which has as a reward growing personal self-worth and enhanced social value. It also has the drawback of becoming identified as one of those few that just can’t sit quietly with their mouths shut when some act of foolishness is in motion.

The proliferation of new technologies, one of the primary keys to modern societal growth, relies on the development of two individual but highly interrelated competencies: leadership and innovation. These two are the basis for the successful development of most of the major technologies in production today and, at their best, they are also the genesis behind most of the large commercial and industrial organizations currently operating in the global marketplace. It is the state of health of these two linked competencies that often determine the longevity and profitability of these organizations. The question should then be what role does, and will, the engineer and scientist play in this leadership driven innovation play and how will we be the architects of our own future. Have we done enough and what will scientist and engineers need to do in the future to continue a growth-based legacy?