feeling optimistic?

"For a rude surprise, peek under the lid of any great institution," writes William Falk, editor of The Week magazine.

Inside NASA, or a great teaching hospital, or the New York Times, you'd expect to find a whirring watch movement of brilliant people -- crisp, coolly rational, completely focused on their mission. Not so. The brilliant people are there, all right. But so are giant egos, petty agendas, irrational notions resistant to all evidence, and staggering feats of stupidity. In other words, great institutions are filled with people like you and me.

Via Sandra