Cynthia Cook's guest appearances

Cynthia Cook

Acquisition Talk

Sagewlf Interviews

Audio Briefs

Bill Johnson

Andrew Hunter

Todd Harrison

Fred Hampton

Matt Nelson

Peter Levine

Dan Ward

John Whitley

Tate Nurkin

Katherine Boyle

Bruce Cameron

Will Thomas

John Kuehn

Pete Newell

Steve Blank

OwlTail

A short, spoken-word summary from CSIS’s Cynthia Cook on her brief with Anna Dowd and Dominik P. Jankowski, European Warfighting Resilience and NATO Race of Logistics: Ensuring That Europe Has the Fuel It Needs to Fight the Next War. 

A short, spoken-word summary from CSIS’s Cynthia Cook on her brief with Anna Dowd and Dominik P. Jankowski, <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/european-warfighting-resilience-and-nato-race-logistics-ensuring-europe-has-fuel-it-needs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">European Warfighting Resilience and NATO Race of Logistics: Ensuring That Europe Has the Fuel It Needs to Fight the Next War. </a>

"European Warfighting Resilience and NATO Race of Logistics": Audio Brief with Cynthia Cook

Current exhibitionNational Hispanic Cultural CenterAlbuquerque, New MexicoThe scene:We are sitting at Cynthia’s dining table inside her beautiful home, which is a sculptural display everywhere the eye travels. I’m obsessed with her kitchen, which has grey walls and ceiling to counter shelves stacked with colorful vintage ceramic Fiesta plates and bowls. The light coming from the windows is shaded and creates a sense of being enveloped inside a sacred space meant for contemplation and non-distraction. As I learn, this is intentional. Join us for our candid conversation about making a living as an artist with zero digital interaction.Highlights:+ Business name: Cynthia Cook Fine Art (no website, search her name)+ The “Terrible Mutual Admiration Society” (TMAS) TM + Cynthia has a landline and writes letters - with stamps - that’s it!+ No cell phone, no texting, no email, no social media+ Talismans+ @erincurrierfineart is a super-connector and “Godess Incarnata”+ The new technology of the land and farming+ Making a living as an artist for 34 years+ Hard lessons - the best life teachers+ “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden”+ “There’s a lot of tooth and claw to life”+ A description of Cynthia’s art process+ Repoussé: patterns formed by hammering or pressing, esp. of metal+ Collages made of trash - “enshrining natural ephemera”+ Jewelry made from recycled metal from an origin of silver and gold-smithing+ Refusing to work with newly-mined metals+ @parsonsschoolofdesign Studio Art degree+ The expectations of the modern digital world+ “We don’t want to be with anybody who doesn’t want to be present with us”+ Making an effort to be with people (is not texting)+ The mark of the artist - “resisting the chicanery of the gnomes”+ Choosing a perspective of optimistic hopeful belief+ Carcass collage gifts from wild foxes+ Cynthia knew she would be a working artist at 4 years old+ The awareness and confidence of living hand-to-mouth+ The arts are a time capsule of artists sharing through the ages+ Balancing extroverted interviews and introverted nature+ Hindsight, building blocks+ “Quietly Courageous” (my biggest compliment ever!)+ Having an organic, genuine exchange with another human+ An archivist approach to documenting reality, anthropology+ Clairaudio (like clairvoyance) - when you hear sounds others can not+ Empathy and compassion and gifted sensibilities+ Caring for aging parents, with Alzheimers+ A young mind and an aging body+ Warrior-healer-goddesses-type-people+ Giving compliments is a lost art+ Doing your art with whatever medium it requires+ Live music is profound because the moment is lost as soon as you’ve heard it+ Most of the behaviors we have are projections of our self+ Do birds take it personally when an animal kills their young?+ The qualities of a good Boy Scout - a post-it story+ “Don’t worry twice” - wait for the dataA taste:“I first encountered that saying at a job I had in college. I worked at a vintage clothing store for this fabulous goddess woman - it was kind-of a front for her drug dealing business. […] The only time she ever got in a car wreck was when she was trying to drive sober.”Favorite saying:“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” - Desiderata Support the show

<a href="https://www.nhccnm.org/event/fronteras-del-futuro-art-in-new-mexico-and-beyond/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Current exhibition</a> National Hispanic Cultural Center Albuquerque, New Mexico The scene: We are sitting at Cynthia’s dining table inside her beautiful home, which is a sculptural display everywhere the eye travels. I’m obsessed with her kitchen, which has grey walls and ceiling to counter shelves stacked with colorful vintage ceramic Fiesta plates and bowls. The light coming from the windows is shaded and creates a sense of being enveloped inside a sacred space meant for contemplation and non-distraction. As I learn, this is intentional. Join us for our candid conversation about making a living as an artist with zero digital interaction. Highlights: + Business name: Cynthia Cook Fine Art (no website, search her name) + The “Terrible Mutual Admiration Society” (TMAS) TM + Cynthia has a landline and writes letters - with stamps - that’s it! + No cell phone, no texting, no email, no social media + Talismans + <a href="https://www.instagram.com/erincurrierfineart/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@erincurrierfineart</a> is a super-connector and “Godess Incarnata” + The new technology of the land and farming + Making a living as an artist for 34 years + Hard lessons - the best life teachers + “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden” + “There’s a lot of tooth and claw to life” + A description of Cynthia’s art process + Repoussé: patterns formed by hammering or pressing, esp. of metal + Collages made of trash - “enshrining natural ephemera” + Jewelry made from recycled metal from an origin of silver and gold-smithing + Refusing to work with newly-mined metals + <a href="https://www.instagram.com/parsonsschoolofdesign/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@parsonsschoolofdesign</a> Studio Art degree + The expectations of the modern digital world + “We don’t want to be with anybody who doesn’t want to be present with us” + Making an effort to be with people (is not texting) + The mark of the artist - “resisting the chicanery of the gnomes” + Choosing a perspective of optimistic hopeful belief + Carcass collage gifts from wild foxes + Cynthia knew she would be a working artist at 4 years old + The awareness and confidence of living hand-to-mouth + The arts are a time capsule of artists sharing through the ages + Balancing extroverted interviews and introverted nature + Hindsight, building blocks + “Quietly Courageous” (my biggest compliment ever!) + Having an organic, genuine exchange with another human + An archivist approach to documenting reality, anthropology + Clairaudio (like clairvoyance) - when you hear sounds others can not + Empathy and compassion and gifted sensibilities + Caring for aging parents, with Alzheimers + A young mind and an aging body + Warrior-healer-goddesses-type-people + Giving compliments is a lost art + Doing your art with whatever medium it requires + Live music is profound because the moment is lost as soon as you’ve heard it + Most of the behaviors we have are projections of our self + Do birds take it personally when an animal kills their young? + The qualities of a good Boy Scout - a post-it story + “Don’t worry twice” - wait for the data A taste: “I first encountered that saying at a job I had in college. I worked at a vintage clothing store for this fabulous goddess woman - it was kind-of a front for her drug dealing business. […] The only time she ever got in a car wreck was when she was trying to drive sober.” Favorite saying: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” - Desiderata <a href="https://www.patreon.com/sagewlf" rel="payment nofollow" target="_blank">Support the show</a>

Cynthia Cook: Recycled Materials Collage Artist / Queen of Ye Olde Analog / President of the TMAS (see below)

William Shelton

RAND researchers Cynthia Cook and William Shelton joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss their new paper which takes a fresh look at the space acquisition enterprise. Not only is the US Space Force much smaller than its sister services (just 16,000 compared more than 10x that number in the Marines), it is also much more reliant on technology. They argue that the nation's newest military service has a huge opportunity to shape a more agile process and flatter organization. This includes:- Creating a culture of "warrior engineers"- Embracing funding flexibility and portfolio management- Empowering a single space acquisition decisionmaker- Coordinating enterprise architectures and capability roadmaps- Increasing cross-pollination between government and industryIn the episode, Cynthia and Bill emphasize the need for the Space Force to think differently about program management. Often, managers are incentivized to deliver on their baseline program instead of taking responsibility for broader integration issues. For example, the GPS capability set was broken out into separate programs for space vehicle, ground, user equipment, and launch, causing synchronization issues.Bill explained how "As a program manager, I had the iron triangle. Don't mess with my cost-schedule-performance. Anybody comes with a new idea, if it's going to make me slip or cost money, thanks for your interest in national defense but I'm going to do what I got to do to meet my APB."Changing this system of incentives requires a different personnel structure, system of promotion, dedicated contracting officers, and methods of accountability. This is particularly true as space systems rely more on commercial, proliferation, and "good enough" solutions rather than exquisite systems that take more than a decade to field.This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at https://AcquisitionTalk.com

RAND researchers Cynthia Cook and William Shelton joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss their new paper which takes a fresh look at the space acquisition enterprise. Not only is the US Space Force much smaller than its sister services (just 16,000 compared more than 10x that number in the Marines), it is also much more reliant on technology. They argue that the nation's newest military service has a huge opportunity to shape a more agile process and flatter organization. This includes: - Creating a culture of "warrior engineers" - Embracing funding flexibility and portfolio management - Empowering a single space acquisition decisionmaker - Coordinating enterprise architectures and capability roadmaps - Increasing cross-pollination between government and industry In the episode, Cynthia and Bill emphasize the need for the Space Force to think differently about program management. Often, managers are incentivized to deliver on their baseline program instead of taking responsibility for broader integration issues. For example, the GPS capability set was broken out into separate programs for space vehicle, ground, user equipment, and launch, causing synchronization issues. Bill explained how "As a program manager, I had the iron triangle. Don't mess with my cost-schedule-performance. Anybody comes with a new idea, if it's going to make me slip or cost money, thanks for your interest in national defense but I'm going to do what I got to do to meet my APB." Changing this system of incentives requires a different personnel structure, system of promotion, dedicated contracting officers, and methods of accountability. This is particularly true as space systems rely more on commercial, proliferation, and "good enough" solutions rather than exquisite systems that take more than a decade to field. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at <a href="https://AcquisitionTalk.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://AcquisitionTalk.com</a>

A clean-sheet approach to Space Force acquisition with Cynthia Cook and William Shelton