Employee Spotlight: Vice President of National Security Wiley Barnes

eSimplicity is thrilled to welcome our new Vice President of National Security, Wiley Barnes, to the team. After 24 years in the United States Air Force, he brings extensive experience in leadership and intelligence. In this recent interview, Wiley shares with us his career history, personal leadership philosophy, and future goals as an eSimplicity team member.

I see you are an Air Force veteran with extensive experience in intelligence, strategy, operations, policy, leadership, technology, and more. Can you provide us with a brief career overview?

I’ve had a diverse career over the past 24 years including 14 different military assignments. Some of my previous roles include intelligence positions in various units such as aircraft operations and intelligence collection. I also held a position as an instructor at Air University Officer Training School training new lieutenants. I have worked a few different staff jobs with the Pentagon focusing on strategy and planning while coming up with operational concepts on how to design and operate force to protect from foreign competitors. I received two funded master’s degrees from George Washington University and the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. I found my time at Air Force strategy school to be the most enriching educational experience of my life, as it helped me see the world through many different lenses. We nicknamed strategy school the “book a day club,” where every day you completed a new book and went to class prepared to have intellectual knife fight with twelve of your closest friends and your professor.

Wiley’s book recommendations: This was tough to narrow down, but here’s a start.

The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of a Learning Organization, by Peter Senge

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, by Richard Rumelt

The Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow

What is a high point in your career so far? Or an accomplishment you are proud of?

While there are a couple of high points in my career, I am most proud of my family and the fact that my family outlasted my military career. That was always my goal; the military puts demands on their people and those demands are supported by families that stand right there with you (sometimes from afar). While my kids did not volunteer to serve, they served by moving to a dozen places throughout my time in the military. My oldest went to three different high schools. My family sacrificed in a different way. It was crucial to balance the demands of the service and family needs.

In terms of my Air Force career, I served as a Commander at two levels: Squadron Commander as a Lieutenant Colonel and Group Commander as a Colonel. There is no role that is more profoundly impactful on the mission and the people you are responsible for because of the authority and influence that comes with command.

What was it about eSimplicity that caught your attention?

When I first learn about eSimplicity, it was almost like a blind date. On active duty I worked a project with Palantir and I was the customer for that project. I left that project for a year before I retired. After I left the project, a new government contract was established for additional work with Palantir. Palantir and the Air Force were interested in me coming back in a new role. eSimplicity, which enjoys a trusted relationship with Palantir across many efforts, wanted someone with significant national security experience to grow the business on the defense and national security side. Luckily, it worked out for everyone. I met with Nam on the phone while I was on leave in Portugal near the end of my time with the Air Force. I had done my research beforehand, but I also had a very positive sense from my interaction with him. It made sense for my professional and personal goals to work remotely and it lined up with eSimplicity’s goals as well. Since I have been a part of the team, I am more encouraged every day and every time I interact with our eSimplicity team that I made the right decision. This is a capable group of people who are talented and driven, but treat each other with respect. You can be the best at whatever technical craft in the world, but if no one wants to work with you, it doesn’t matter that you’re the best. (book recommendation on integrative thinking: The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking, by Roger Martin).

How do you hope to drive eSimplicity’s National Security efforts in the future? What are you most excited about in this new role?

Currently, there are four things that are shaping the national security environment from a technological perspective: space, autonomy, data and disease. What ties them all together is data. Across industries around the world, digital transformation is happening. Due to ever-increasing telecommunication capabilities, if businesses are using the internet, they are global businesses. This offers opportunities to bring data together in new exciting ways, while also increasing the “attack surface” for potential threats. We have to look at technology trends. One of my mentors would always say, “there’s nothing new under the sun except technology.” We are stronger if we can look to the future and create a vision for what technology will do for the industry and by extension our national security and health.

The DoD is well-known for being at the leading-edge of advanced technology for weapons systems and command & control. However, DoD has not done a good enough job of integrating across disconnected data sets to compete against challengers now and in the future. DoD is now waking up to the need for digital transformation that industry has been aware of already. As a company, we can help DoD and other government organizations achieve their goals for digital transformation.

What coming national or international headwinds do you see affecting eSimplicity in the coming years?

From a practical standpoint, everything does something to you and for you. Everything. When we integrate data, a malicious actor might want to corrupt the data or deceive us. The challenge we will face moving forward with digital transformation in government is how we integrate our data to inform decisions, while protecting our data smartly. We can’t create cybersecurity moats and castles that are so powerful that we can’t even use our data. We can’t overprotect ourselves. Offense is dominant in cyber warfare; it is more costly for us to defend than for the attackers to make the attacks. So, the remaining question is, “how can we be resilient, rather than impenetrable?” Lastly, we can’t underestimate the cultural, policy, and political barriers to adopting innovative technology like digital data driven decision making. We have to be sensitive to the human and organizational aspects of innovation, which can undermine even the best tech initiatives. We must be prepared, polite, and persistent to drive the change we know is needed.

What is your personal leadership philosophy or strategy? What does visionary leadership mean to you?

My philosophy consists of 4 principles.

Mutual respect: This serves as the foundation for establishing trust. If we don’t respect each other, we don’t have trust and then we are not effective as a team. Everything depends on teamwork in military and in business — relationships matter.

Do the right thing for the right reasons: This serves as an ethical lens for how we see the world, how we see each other, and the choices we make. Often making a decision to do the right thing incurs a personal or social cost, which requires moral courage. A network of mutual support helps tremendously when we have to make those tough decisions.

Lead by example: It doesn’t matter what your role is in a team or organization, we respond to each other because we are a social species. Negative attitudes or being unconstructive in approaching work or each other will spread throughout the team unless its clamped down and not tolerated by other people in the group. Every day we have a choice in how conduct ourselves, which will impact the people around us — for good or bad…so choose good.

Continuous improvement: This is applicable from an individual and organizational perspective. Learning organizations take on a debrief mentality where they take a step back and reflect on what we could have done better. This looks like giving credit to positive things we saw, while also being constructive on how we can improve. If you stop growing and learning then we cease to add value.

To wrap it all together, we need to be loyal heretics — people who are loyal to the nation, the mission, and the team, while challenging the status quo in a constructive way. We can’t fall into the trap of settling for how we’ve always done things.

What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

I have the perspective I have today because of how I approached things in the past — the mistakes, the successes, and all the ups and downs. I have been fortunate in life, education, experience, opportunity and family. If I had to narrow it down, I would invest more in personal relationships. We get so wrapped up in the mindset of getting the next task done, especially in the military, so it’s always worth a reminder that without the cohesive human element, we cease to be effective. There’s always room for growth. There is a quote that is applicable to the situation that my boss would use frequently: “Pleased, but not satisfied.”

What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of work?

I like to hike and Colorado is a great place for that. We have a ping pong table in our new house and every day since we moved in, I’ve played ping pong with my son. I like to try new craft beers, specifically IPAs. I like the variety and I keep track of the IPAS I’ve tried so far using the Untapped app. I have tried 460 different beers in total, not including the variety of German beers I had when I lived in Germany. Where I am now, Fort Collins, is considered the Napa Valley of craft beers.

Anything else you would like to add?

I look forward to doing more engagements with our eSimplicity teammates in the future. Developing people is one of the most important things we can do. Whether its interns or anyone working on a project, I’m here to help and here to learn…and connecting with teammates makes it all possible.

We would like to extend a special thank you to Wiley for taking the time to meet with us and share his career experience, leadership philosophy and valuable advice. We are so excited to have him on the eSimplicity team. Keep an eye out for our next post featuring Wiley after his Career Chat next month!