Some may conclude from this record that reform is impossible. Last year, while working at a Fortune 500 company under the State Department's Corporate Placement Program, I saw first-hand how a fundamental reinvention was actually achieved at an organization that matches the State Department in size, complexity, and global reach. Recently lauded by Fortune Magazine as one of the world's most admired companies, Caterpillar was in deep trouble a decade ago. Unfavorable global economic conditions, strong foreign competition, and other factors combined to produce operating losses of a million dollars a day for three years running. Fighting for its corporate life, in 1990 Caterpillar appointed a new chief executive officer, Donald V. Fites, who undertook a massive organizational transformation.
Every organization has a distinct culture that shapes the work environment.
At Intel the culture is agile and innovative. At General Motors it is bureaucratic and confrontational. When Caterpillar took a frank look at its corporate culture, it saw well-entrenched characteristics that were holding the company back from adapting to a rapidly changing operating environment. Today, after nine years of reform, the results are in. It is this focus on changing the organization's culture from which the State Department could learn the most.