Second, the structures and rituals of bureaucracy constitute a set of social norms which, like all norms, are difficult to challenge without looking like a buffoon. Suggest abolishing the trappings of bureaucracy— the multiple management layers and all-powerful staff groups—and your colleagues will scoff at your naivete. What’s next? Letting people design their own jobs, choose their colleagues, and approve their own expenses? Well, yes, actually, but if you go there, heads will explode.

Formal power is the currency of bureaucracy; it is the prize for which the game is played. Bureaucracy inflames our natural desire for power, sometimes to the point of caricature. As a result, bureaucracy often brings out the worst in people, whether it’s a minor functionary gleefully enforcing a petty rule, or a CEO getting an ego massage from a deferential underling. In other words, bureaucracy isn’t simply an organizational problem—it’s a human problem.

So, let’s face facts.

BUREAUCRACY IS FAMILIAR. You won’t have the courage to take on bureaucracy unless you believe there are alternatives. We must search out organizations that have successfully defied management orthodoxy.

BUREAUCRACY IS COMPLEX AND SYSTEMIC. Fragmented, half-hearted attempts won’t cut it. We need to replace the entire edifice of bureaucracy—one stone at a time.

BUREAUCRACY IS WELL DEFENDED. There will be resistance, so management rebels need to join forces. You have to build a grassroots movement that can overwhelm or route around the defenders of the status quo.

BUREAUCRACY SERVES A PURPOSE, HOWEVER POORLY. The goal is to carefully dismantle bureaucracy, not simply blow it up. You need a change strategy that is both audacious and prudent.

BUREAUCRACY IS SELF-REPLICATING. There will be no easy victories. Bureaucrats will fight back. To persevere, you’ll need a sense of purpose that’s as unshakable as the path is arduous.

Bureaucracy, as we’ve noted, is a game. It pits contestants against one another in a battle for positional power and the rewards that come with it. We have no problem with competition—unless winning comes at the cost of one’s humanity. Bureaucracy will start to crumble when talented and principled people walk off the playing field; when big-hearted heretics decide to forgo bureaucratic wins for the sake of their own integrity, and for the sake of those who’ve been diminished by bureaucracy. As Harvard professor Marshall Ganz notes, the goal of people who change the world is “not winning the game, but changing the rules.

Here’s a simple exercise you can do. Reflect on your actions across the last week or month and ask:

1. DID I SUBTLY UNDERMINE A RIVAL? In a bureaucracy, power is zero-sum. When a slot opens up, only one person gets promoted. In the battle to move ahead, it’s tempting to discount the contributions of others, or sow doubts about their integrity or competence.

1. DID I HOLD ON TO POWER WHEN I SHOULD HAVE SHARED IT? In a formal hierarchy, it’s the people who make the big decisions who get paid the big bucks. To justify their superior status, managers must be seen to be making the tough calls. This creates a disincentive to share authority.

1. DID I PAD A BUDGET REQUEST OR EXAGGERATE A BUSINESS CASE? Resource allocation in a bureaucracy is inflexible and conservative. Budgets often get set a year in advance, and anything that looks risky gets down-rated. Given this, it’s tempting to bid for more resources than you need or overstate the merits of your case.

1. DID I FAKE ENTHUSIASM FOR ONE OF MY BOSS’S IDEAS? In a bureaucracy, disagreeing with your boss can be a career-limiting move. Hence, individuals often swallow their reservations rather than risk being seen as disloyal.

5. DID I DISREGARD THE HUMAN COSTS OF A DECISION? If your organization treats people as mere resources, you may be pushed to make decisions that sacrifice trust and relational capital for short-term business gains.

1. DID I PLAY IT SAFE WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BOLD? In a bureaucracy, the penalties for screwing up are often bigger than the penalties for sitting on your hands. Given that, it’s tempting to defend timidity as prudence.

1. DID I FAIL TO CHALLENGE A COUNTERPRODUCTIVE POLICY? It’s easier to whine about a stupid rule than to challenge a senior policy maker. Civil disobedience is never the safest choice, but systems don’t change until people take a stand.

1. DID I DO LESS THAN I COULD TO FOSTER THE GROWTH OF THOSE WHO WORK FOR ME? As we noted earlier, there’s often an assumption that “commodity jobs” are filled with “commodity people.” As a result, it’s easy to overlook opportunities to nurture the growth of employees doing mundane jobs.

1. DID I FAIL TO CREATE TIME AND SPACE FOR INNOVATION, OR MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO BACK A PROMISING IDEA? There’s not much glory in being an innovation mentor. It takes time and often ends in failure. It’s easier to keep your head down than to champion a new idea, but the result is inertia and incrementalism.

1. DID I FAVOR MY TEAM AT THE EXPENSE OF THE BUSINESS OVERALL? Bureaucracies offer few rewards for sharing scarce resources with other units. Behaving parochially often produces the best personal outcomes, even when it’s suboptimal for the organization at large.

1. DID I UNFAIRLY DEFLECT BLAME OR CLAIM CREDIT? In a bureaucracy, performance assessments are typically focused on individuals rather than teams. The goal is to be Teflon when the shit hits the fan and Velcro when plaudits are being handed out. This behavior distorts reputations and misallocates rewards, but it’s the way to win in an individualistic organization.

1. DID I SACRIFICE MY VALUES FOR EXPEDIENCY? Bureaucracies value results above all else. If you exceed your targets, no one’s likely to ask what shortcuts you took. Over time, the bias for outcomes over ethics desensitizes an organization to the moral consequences of its actions.