I have a friend who is going through The Fountainhead. That's as of the time of this writing. He reads fast, so it probably won't be true when this post is published.
Without debating the merits of this book, there's a particular part that he was discussing with me, recently, which I think is relevant to everything.
Near the beginning, the main character (Howard Roark) is chastised by the dean of his college for not doing what has always been done. This is done in a very ham-fisted way where the dean basically explicitly states that we have to keep doing what our ancestors did.
My friend's objection to it was the fact that the conversation seemed hyperbolic (my words, not his), not to the point being made. Yet, the problem is actually a very common one.
Though it's typically presented more subtly, culture does exhibit inertial properties. This is as true for corporate cultures as it is for national ones.
What does that mean for us?
It means we have to slow down. A lot.
It's easy to know where we want a culture to go. It's possible to personally adopt skills, disciplines, or even a new mindset pretty quickly.
What's hard is to alter the culture of a large body of people faster than that population will accept.
If you chisel away at a culture, you can make a cumulative difference. If you try to be an iconoclast, you're more likely to be ousted or ignored than you are to make a real impact.
