William H. Whyte

…from my colleagues, friends, family, associates, advisors, mentors, subcontractors, consultants, employees.  And not necessarily in that order.

The term NIH in this context is not referring to the federal agency.  It is shorthand, instead, for “Not Invented Here”.  I was reminded of this particular mindset when driving through an old neighborhood where I served as a community organizer.  At one of the meetings of a local board, which was particularly dysfunctional (and where I was attempting to reform their dysfunction), a member remarked:  “I am tired of hearing about how this or that particular issue was handled somewhere else.”  Yes, I thought, why would we possibly want to know how Portland, or D.C., or Boston, or Denver, or Phoenix–or any of the number of other places faced with the same issue–effectively or ineffectively dealt with it before us?  What could they possibly teach us?