Thursday, April 29, 2010

Spreading Innovations

I'm always fascinated by the processes by which new ideas spread, or don't spread, through society.  One reason is purely egoistic--over my working career I had some new ideas, some of which spread, some didn't.  Some survived my departure, most didn't. The flip side is why are bureaucracies and societies resistant to change.

Today the US Army presents an example.  Tom Ricks at the Best Defense presents a post in which the writer argues that even though General Petraeus ushered through a new Field Manual on Counter Insurgency, and there are high-ranking officers who've bought into the ideas, COIN isn't safely embedded in the Army's culture. New bureaucrats, whether they be Presidents or political appointees, often believe if they can just get something done on paper, whether it be a law or a directive, the job is done.  Wrong--it's just starting.

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