9 Years After 9/11, the Government Still Does Not Get “Failure of Imagination.”

Jan. 12, 2010 - PRLog -- An analysis reported today that out of 28,875 job openings in the Federal Government, close to zero percent require imagination related skills.  According to futurist Mick Mortlock,  “The Amsterdam to Detroit bombing incident revealed that the US Government still fails to understand ‘the failure of imagination’ problem highlighted by the 9/11 Commission as our most important failure.” This analysis was a follow-up to Mortlock’s report issued in 2005, and reported throughout the government in The Public Manager magazine.

In the initial study, one year after the 9/11 Commission report, Mortlock discovered that of 19,405 Federal Government job listings, zero jobs required imagination skills. The 2010 update revealed that only 11 of the positions open today refer to imagination, and a few additional mention creativity or innovation. This is discussed in more detail in Mortlock’s BLOG: http://imaginationgardener.blogspot.com

CIA Director Leon Panetta says:  “To keep America safe, we must stay a step ahead, we must see where science and technology are going and we must use them to our greatest advantage. Our work must be beyond the capability and the imagination of our adversaries.” To make sure this happens, Mortlock is calling for a national program to teach people imagination skills.

About Mick Mortlock: Mortlock was named one of America's leading futurists by The Public Manager, a prominent publication reaching federal, state and county government leaders. His career was recently profiled in The Oregonian, and he serves on the boards of Oregon non-profits.

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Mick Mortlock speaks, writes and consults. He was named one of America's leading futurists by The Public Manager, a prominent publication reaching federal, state and county government leaders. He has had a successful career creating large learning and development organizations for Fortune 200 companies. His career was recently profiled in The Oregonian.