Culture change, Innovation Diffusion and the Amoeba metaphor

Highly recommended: the "Amoeba chapter" (PDF or HTML; overview) from Alan AtKisson's 1999 book Believing Cassandra: An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist's World.

"Whenever I think about cultural change, I think of the Amoeba."
- Dick Roy

"... What changed? How did Palo Alto go from "S-Word" to S-Champion? "The first thing," said Julie, "was getting the right people on board." She started talking about Innovators with new ideas, and Change Agents who are good at spreading ideas, and finding Transformers who help legitimate the ideas in the eyes of the mainstream -- all of which sounded quite familiar. And then she put up a diagram to explain this strategy: The Amoeba of Cultural Change."

"When you are informed by Innovation Diffusion Theory, you understand -- in practical as well as theoretical terms -- what it takes to move an idea from zero to broad acceptance."

"if you try to interest the apathetic, or convert the opposition, you are in for frustration and perhaps failure. But if you quietly attract the curious and the open-minded, and those hungry for something that addresses a nagging worry they have, you will start building critical mass...."