Rodent Regatta

Today’s press conference by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board included many particularly insightful comments. One really caught my attention. Admiral Gehman said words to the effect, ”You can change an organization by reorganizing, but you cannot change a culture by merely reorganizing.”

So true, yet it remains a confoundingly misunderstood message. The time, talent and repetitiveness required of the senior leader in any organization trying to bring about transformation cannot be appreciated until you’ve been through it. As I read the report, I realize that this accident was about far, far more than misjudging or misunderstanding engineering data.