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AOD’s Member of the Month:

Murray’s cognitive psychology pedigree began in the 1980s but evolved over the decades to include an eclectic mix of other military-related disciplines. After serving nearly 30 years in the New Zealand Defence Force, he transferred over to the Royal Australian Navy, and is now an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force. Regardless of uniform or posting, Murray remains passionate about helping others to realise their potential. Seven years of teaching at staff colleges provided him with ample opportunity to observe mid-career officers struggle making the step-change from transactional thinking to transformational designing. For many students, this transmogrification from caterpillar to butterfly remains unnecessarily challenging, yet Murray is convinced they are victims of a system that over-enthusiastically conditions junior officers to remain predictable through templated linear thinking processes. Thus—although accepting intellectual agility might be genetically capped—there is no excuse for militaries artificially constraining their decision makers to levels below their potential.

To learn more about Murray, visit https://aodnetwork.ca/author/murraysimons/