It was clear that at all levels of the organization there was fear, uncertainty, and an extraordinary preoccupation with internal processes as the cause of our problems and, therefore, a belief that tinkering with the processes.

I just had to find the teammates who were ready to try to do things a different way.

We got there in stages because, while you can force anything down the throat of an organization, if people don’t buy into the logic, the change won’t stick.

Years later I heard it described as a culture in which no one would say yes, but everyone could say no.

Perhaps the greatest mistake I’ve seen executives make is to confuse expectations with inspection.