This week, I sat down with Naftali “Naf” Jaman, a man whose career has stretched from engineering roles in the U.S. Air Force to leading open innovation programs for global giants like GM, Airbus, and LG Electronics. Along the way, he has helped launch startups in automotive safety, advised aviation and space ventures, and worked at the crossroads of academia, government, and industry.

Our conversation centered on what Naf calls the inception method. It is the ability to plant an idea in someone else’s mind and let them believe it is their own. The process demands patience, empathy, and a willingness to let go of credit in order to see the idea thrive. 

Naf described how he built trust inside LG by taking executives out of the office, talking less about technology and more about culture and daily life, until he could gently introduce a concept that eventually reshaped their approach to in-car infotainment systems. What struck me most was his insistence that real influence begins not with clever pitches but with listening and creating the conditions for others to feel ownership of a solution.

We explored the challenges large corporations face when they attempt to work with startups, often overwhelming them with bureaucracy or diluting their energy through misguided “startup challenges” that serve more as PR exercises than true collaborations. 

Naf’s preference is always to work one on one, helping a single leader take action on a problem they urgently need to solve, and quietly guiding them until the idea becomes theirs to champion. He also spoke about the role academia can play in solving early-stage R&D puzzles, highlighting his time at General Motors, where university researchers provided critical pieces of the hydrogen fuel cell puzzle long before commercialization was possible.

Perhaps most provocatively, Naf shared his skepticism about dual-use technologies, which many in the innovation community hail as a promising path between defense and civilian markets. He argued that export controls and the slow timelines of defense procurement often strangle opportunities before they mature, making dual use more of a limitation than a catalyst. His candor about these challenges was refreshing, and a reminder that innovation is as much about what we choose not to pursue as what we chase.

By the end of our conversation, I was reminded that the real work of innovation often happens quietly, in the spaces between people. It is about empathy, patience, and sometimes even a touch of psychological sleight of hand. As Naf put it, the greatest innovation of all is the human mind itself, provided we learn how to use it well.