Reframing Organizations, 6th Edition

Chapter 2Simple Ideas, Complex Organizations

Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.

—Nikola Tesla¹

September 11, 2001 brought a crisp and sunny late-summer morning to America's east coast. Perfect weather offered prospects of on-time departures and smooth flights for airline passengers in the Boston-Washington corridor. That promise was shattered for four flights bound for California when terrorists commandeered the aircraft. Two of the hijacked aircraft attacked and destroyed the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. Another slammed into the Pentagon. The fourth was deterred from its mission by the heroic efforts of passengers. It crashed ...