In a bureaucracy, human beings are instruments, employed by an organization to create products and services. In a humanocracy, the organization is the instrument—it’s the vehicle human beings use to better their lives and the lives of those they serve. (See figure 1-2.) The question at the core of bureaucracy is, “How do we get human beings to better serve the organization?” The question at the heart of humanocracy is, “What sort of organization elicits and merits the best that human beings can give?” As we’ll see, the implications of this shift in perspective are profound.

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.

Fourth, bureaucrats are inclined to defend the status quo. Bureaucracy is a massive, multiplayer game in which millions of human beings compete for the prize of promotion. These are zero-sum battles. To advance, you must master the art of ducking blame, defending turf, managing up, hoarding resources, trading favors, negotiating targets, and escaping scrutiny. Anyone who’s spent years honing these skills is unlikely to be enthusiastic about a radical rule change.

Let us not pretend, though, that bureaucracy advances independent of human intention. The fuel that feeds the growth of bureaucracy is the quest for personal power. Power brings survival advantages, and we are wired to seek it. Having the power to direct your life is essential, but like the desire for food, alcohol, or sex, the lust for power can enslave us. That’s why philosophers and moral teachers so often warn us of its dangers.

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.