Institutional Arteriosclerosis and New Threats

Institutions don’t die from a lack of power, they die from a lack of flexibility.

It is a condition called institutional arteriosclerosis. Just like a hardened artery loses the

ability to expand when the body is under stress, powerful organizations calcify around past

threats and lose the ability to recognize new ones. Here is how the pathology works.

Back in the early 2000s, social media was treated as a toy. It was a digital

playground for college kids. Institutions ignored it because it looked harmless.

Then the Arab Spring happened. Facebook and Twitter were used to coordinate revolutions and

topple governments. The institutions panicked. They learned a very specific lesson: