Badly Entrenched Mindsets

Director of Lord of the Rings has a fine piece of wisdom which i come across on the extended version:

"When you are doing editing it is important to wipe your mind of any preconceptions. Don't try to justify decisions you made at the time because you had a justification for doing something 2 years ago when you shot it. Don't carry that baggage anymore. Just kind of sit back & be critical & just say: U don't know the story, characters, shooting it. You know, i'll love to have that total innocent lack of knowledge." -Peter Jackson

Many managers/ministers are heavily entrenched in their way of thinking & doing things because that's what got them to where they are. To do so otherwise would expose their incompetence in front of their subordinates & embarass them. More is at stake with their financial liabilities such as housing, car, kids etc which makes it even more difficult to dislodge their 'expired' thinking & try something new.

Often a lot of pain is needed to jerk them out of their comfort zone & think/do something new. Smart bosses tap the innocence of raw recruits cause they have no baggage & can look at a situation/problem with fresh angles.

I'm afraid this dreaded 'disease' is more prevalent among bureaucrats.