If you don’t know what the term cargo cult means, you must.
The stylized version of the story behind the term goes something like this:
During World War II the Americans arrived on a Pacific island to build a supply station. On this island was a native population. When the Americans arrived the natives watched the American’s actions with a great deal of interest. The natives saw the Americans clear some land, build a runway and control tower, signal for something and suddenly, as if coming from out of nowhere, cargo started to arrive, plane-load by plane-load. The natives were intrigued. They wanted these same treasures of cargo from the heavens. The rushed to their area of the island, cleared some land, built a runway and control tower, placed their high priest at the top of the tower with shells over his ears (to imitate headphones), waived their arms to signal to the skies and waited for planes to land with their cargo. No planes came.
The natives didn’t know what made the planes land. In the absence of knowing why the American’s cargo system worked all the natives could do was mimic as best they could the actions they could see. That wasn’t enough to get them the cargo.”
In organizations and in life, people try to imitate someone who has had a success, often to equal results as the natives in our story.
For example: (more…)
