Leading Across Boundaries: Creating Collaborative Agencies in a Networked World

10

Dealing with the Most Difficult Situations

Huge Egos, Empire Builders, Information Hoarders, and Cultures That Reinforce Them

 

 

The past is never dead. It’s not even past.

—William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun

 

At the start of Chapter Four I described the near seamless collaboration that occurred at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and for the next two weeks. Egos and turf were put aside; nobody cared what agency others represented; the operative attitude was, “Whatever you need, you’ve got.” Because of previously established relationships among the principal agency leaders, 9/11 at the Pentagon was a case study in collaboration ... except for the relationship between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau ...