TheBridge profile: George Chewning
Name: George Chewning
Current city: Washington, DC
Current job: Deputy Director, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
Past job: Presidential Innovation Fellow (PIF), Department of Veterans Affairs
George found his job at Beeck Center and PIF fellowship through TheBridge Job Board. Share a job or find a job here!
Q. Job advice in three words? Do the work.
Q. How are you currently bridging the gap between innovation and regulation? The Beeck Center supports action-oriented research projects, providing a space for expert practitioners to work with students and other passionate people to explore innovation and test for social impact. I think one of the best ways to bridge the gap between innovation and regulation is to get the innovators and the regulators in the same room and speaking the same language. At the Beeck Center, we provide tools and convene networks of practitioners throughout the entire public interest technology ecosystem at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels.
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? Great policymakers not only know what makes good policy, but who to motivate to get policy implemented. I’ve found that in many organizations, the innovative solutions are already in someone’s head or in an ignored memo. The challenge is finding the right people or mechanisms to move the ball forward. Innovators can spend more time on the ‘how’ and ‘by what means’ to really see their dream come to fruition.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? Policymakers can learn to reach out to both experts and those that are directly impacted by policy. There can be a tendency in policymaking to primarily seek input from academic or institutional figures, but there’s an opportunity to understand the entire scope and lifecycle of an idea by talking to people on the ground.
Q. Why are you part of TheBridge community? Why do you think it's important this community exists for tech, policy and political professionals? I found my last two jobs through TheBridge community! Thanks to the newsletter hitting my inbox, I learned about both my Presidential Innovation Fellowship and my current role at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation. The intersection of tech and policy continues to grow in size, importance, and complexity and TheBridge does a fantastic job of connecting people, ideas, and opportunities.
Q. Can you describe a skill you have carried throughout your career that has always proved to be valuable? In the Army, we called it ‘tactical patience,’ or the ability to consciously pause while a situation develops. Being early in certain situations can be as disastrous as being late. Whether it’s giving feedback or presenting a full project brief, finding the right moment can be as impactful as the message itself. I always strive to set the conditions for an action, and wait for those conditions to materialize before acting.
Q. What is the best job interview question you have ever been asked? “When can you start?”
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Kramers for coffee, Barcelona for wine.
Q. Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend? I love the diverse selections of The-Syllabus.com newsletter and the accessible Firewall Podcast.
Q. Everyday is probably different, but are there certain skills you think are essential to your job? Balancing the day-to-day with strategic goals. It is so easy to get caught up in the daily firefighting and lose sight of the bigger picture. I constantly use OKRs and my team’s mission statement to stay dedicated to the long-term, or as Succession’s Kendall says, “to get some altitude on this.” Not everything has to tie into the larger strategy, but I find it’s important to chip away at the strategic goals whenever you can.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself in the beginning of your career? Keep scheduling meet-ups. Early in any job you are hyper-focused on meeting as many people as you can to acclimate to the organization and learn how things get done. When you get a little settled, you can also get complacent and stop reaching out to meet new people. Always keep scheduling coffees, donut chats, and happy hours to continue to learn from others and discover new opportunities to help.
Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? Teaching their team how to do their own job, to the extent that they could be replaced. It of course depends on the organization, since sometimes being indispensable is a survival mechanism. But on my teams, I appreciate people that grow the next leaders and, in turn, are better prepared for their own next role.
Q. Best advice you’ve received? The best boss I ever had once told me, “I can do your job better than you ever could, but I don’t have time.” While his ‘tough love’ was certainly an acquired taste, what he was trying to tell me, in the simplest and most direct way, was that he needed me to do my job so that he could do his. To be sure, he was a mentor and a teacher, but at the end of the day, he needed me to do my part so we, as a team, could keep moving forward. Since then, I have always tried to take care to complete what was in my lane in support of the greater organization, while still being in a position to learn and grow.
Q. Which Member of Congress/local lawmaker is most tech savvy? I have always admired Senator Scott Wiener of the 11th District of California’s State Senate for his ability to use technology to reach his constituents and for his advocacy of net neutrality. Net neutrality isn’t necessarily an issue that motivates voters at the polls, but Senator Wiener has spent the time and political capital to advance the issue and weather the ensuing litigation.
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