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Jeffrey Baxter    

Guitarist & Defense Consultant, Known from his stints in "Steely Dan" and "The Doobie Brothers"

Remember when Elvis asked Nixon if he could be in the DEA? A rock musician with high-level security clearance – ridiculous. Unless, of course, you are able to outthink our nation’s enemies with “steely” resolve, experience and strategies. Only one such musician/national security consultant has the confidence and talent to step onto this world stage: Steely Dan co-founder, Jeffrey Baxter.

You may be asking, how in the world does a rock musician wind up as a national security expert? As it happened, it only took a few issues of Aviation Week magazine to peek Jeffrey’s interest in military technology and missile defense systems in particular. He became self-taught in this area, as many geniuses do, and then wrote a paper that proposed converting a ship-based anti-aircraft missile system into a rudimentary missile defense system. He passed on this paper to a local congressman, and his career as a defense consultant began. A consultant to the Department of Defense with a high-level security clearances in the Pentagon, he now advises top military and civilian groups on asymmetrical warfare, next-generation technologies and unconventional strategies.

Baxter believes that it was an unconventional approach to thinking about terrorism, coupled with a keen interest in technology that led to his recruitment by the government. “Conventional thought assumed that record turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as actual musical instruments, and we thought civilian airplanes were for carrying passengers and cargo until terrorists realized, by substituting a complicated and expensive inertial guidance system with a human zealot, they could be re-configured into a very effective cruise missile,” Baxter has said. “My approach has been to look at existing technologies and try to envision other ways they can be applied, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at, as well.” Having the ability to leverage the ability to improvise in your thinking is essential to finding answers to the unconventional crises of today. In this way, his thought process is akin to jazz, where one must think on their feet and and operate in a non-linear, real-time environment consisting of rhythms, lyrics, chords, melodies and human interaction. At one time, with his rock n’ roll hairstyle and horseshoe moustache, Baxter certainly caused a few double-takes in the corridors of the Pentagon. However, as Baxter will tell you, “Eventually you have to walk the walk and be relevant to stay in the game.”

In addition to being a consultant with dynamic ideas, Baxter was the Grammy Award-winning guitarist for The Doobie Brothers and one of the founding members Steely Dan. He successfully brings his creativity and passion for music to his work today, generating and crafting a unconventional set of ideas, concepts and methodologies that have been recognized as highly effective game-changers for the business and student groups he advises. Baxter highlights creative, unconventional problem-solving and planning techniques by showing audiences how to apply knowledge gained in one area to advance goals in completely different fields. He explains how to approach issues with new “logic templates” and how to leave preconceptions behind. Through humor and lateral thinking, Baxter helps corporations and colleges map effective strategies, rediscover the drive to innovate and ignite passion in careers – both collegiate and corporate.

Jeffrey “Skunk” Baxter is currently a consultant/contractor for a number of US Government agencies and advises top military, government and civilian groups on missile defense, terrorism & counter-terrorism, cyber-warfare, intelligence, virtual reality, war gaming, next-generation technology and unconventional strategies. He is a Senior Fellow and member of the Board of Regents at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a member of the Director’s Strategic Red Team at MIT/ Lincoln Laboratories, a consultant for the Global Security Sector of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a Senior Thinker for the Institute for Human & Machine Cognition, as well as holding consulting agreements with SAIC, Northrop-Grumman, Parsons, RadiantBlue Technologies and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was a Specialist Reserve Officer with the Anti-Terrorist Division of the Los Angeles Police Dept. for 15 years and a founding member of the Terrorism Early Warning Group, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Baxter has appeared on CNN and Fox News and written on the subjects of national security and technology for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wired, and Money Magazines.

He has also had a long and successful career, (18 Gold & Platinum Albums, 2 Grammys), in the music and entertainment field as a founding member of the group Steely Dan, Grammy winning guitarist with the Doobie Brothers, as a record producer for such artists as Carl Wilson, Nazareth and The Stray Cats and studio musician for hundreds of recordings.

Speech Topics

Tipping the Scales: Using Asymmetrical Thinking to Change the Rules in Your Favor

Can you acquire the ability to mastermind the kind of agile business practices and innovative thinking that separates the great companies from the good? Is it possible to devise new ways to out think your exams? Jeffery Baxter thinks so. There are plenty of self-proclaimed “out-of-the-box” thinkers in the world, but only one man can truly be packaged as an asymmetrical thinker. What is the difference, you ask? The difference is, Baxter doesn’t just avoid the box – he transcends it.

To be hailed as a “creativity guru,” one must think on an even higher plane. Jeff Baxter not only strips down the 19th-century business model to show the outdated flaws such as the rigid, hierarchal and policy-driven roles for workers and management, he also shows how new practices and new ways of thinking are reaping huge benefits for organizations and individuals. These new models allow for more agile and creative action/reaction in a competitive environment that the management or student body of yesteryear would never have anticipated, nor understood.

Thinking Outside of the Box

Problem Solving in the 21st Century

Many of the problem-solving models we are familiar with are based on 20th- or 19th-century problems that either don't exist now or have morphed into something very different. A world that is real-time connected, is truly global in nature, and has threats or competition that flash up from unexpected sources is a world that demands new approaches to problem solving.

Provide great decision makers with even better skills and tools, and the sky is the limit. Yet, until people and organizations are willing to reevaluate the way they solve problems, and exploit these and other emerging tools and practices, they will find themselves falling behind in a world where learning and experience progress at an exponential rate.

Asymmetrical Thinking in a Conventional World

Do you experience frustration with rigid structures in your organization? Has it impacted your company's profits? Has it prevented the type of agile business practices and innovative thinking that defines the great companies from the good? In a world that is faster, smarter, and globally connected, can the "tried and true" practices of the past sustain the competitive world of today?

Much like why we do not race 1960s-era cars in today's NASCAR, Jeff Baxter not only strips down the 19th-century business model to show the outdated flaws (such as the rigid, hierarchal, and policy-driven roles for workers and management, where creativity outside the strict job definition is discouraged and conditions for advancement skew more toward seniority than creativity), he also shows how new practices and new ways of thinking are reaping huge benefits for organizations. These new models allow for more agile and creative action/reaction in a competitive environment that management gurus of yesteryear would never have anticipated, nor understood.

Asymmetrical thinking is a template already used by many of the best and brightest leaders of business and nonprofits. Yet most leaders will stay in the safety of the well-rooted practices of the past because they lack the clear understanding of the immediate benefits to the bottom line. The question for you is, will your organization continue trying to win with that old race car?

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