Alfred Thompson the Cyberspace People Watcher: Company Cultures

Alfred Thompson the Cyberspace People Watcher: Company Cultures:

"People outside large companies think that the person at the top can change anything they want. They think that the CEO can wake up one morning, hear a great idea (like perhaps Hugh MacLeod writing about how Microsoft should be listening to their customers or Robert Scoble telling Google - and everyone else - how to run their public relations) and make it happen across the company. But it doesn't work that way. Change takes time. It takes time because a lot of times things require culture to change.

Inertia sets in. Passive aggression is a powerful force. People resist change. The only way a CEO could make instant change would be to directly manage everyone. And that is just not going to happen. Small or flat organizations have an edge here. But even in schools which are very flat organizations (almost everyone reports to the principal) and tend to be small are hard to change though. I've seen great principals fail to turn schools around even with the best of ideas. There are no quick fixes in any organization.

Individuals can and do make a difference though. Even in large companies one person changing they way they work and influencing the way other people work can over time make big changes. But 'over time' is key here. Few people want to wait for change to take place slowly and evolutionarily. We are a 'do"

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