Imitation comes naturally to human beings. Despite our vaunted individualism, we are the most imitative animals on Earth. The trick is merely to avoid imitating stupidly. And it seems reasonable to believe that we do so by imitating success. But in a 2001 paper pointedly titled “In Search of Excellence: Fads, Success Stories, and Adaptive Emulation,” two Cornell University researchers remind us that our natural urge to shun failure and imitate success can also be hazardous. They blame a chronic fascination with business success stories for the tendency of corporate management theories to rise and fall in wildly faddish (not to say foolish) cycles.
Like this content? Why not share it?
There Are No Comments
Click to Add the First »
Click to Add the First »