Overcoming Structural Constraints

In 2011, Steven M. Anderson, a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army, wrote about how the military could reduce battlefield casualties by conserving energy. A great many lives are lost feeding the military’s ravenous energy appetite: at last count, more than a thousand American deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan could be attributed to fuel-related missions. Not only that, but the fuel itself is very expensive. Answering his own question about why the Defense Department does not address this important issue, Anderson suggested that the reasons for aversion to change were the same as those in any big organization: “Passive leadership, lack of accountability, competing priorities, skepticism about environmental concerns” (p. A29). His soluti....