John,

I like this post because it illustrates an important point about leadership.  I think that leaders are often great at creating a vision or a plan and then delegating the components to others with the expectation that when all the moving parts are finished, the overall vision will be implemented. (i.e.  Let's cut our budget by 5% this year.  Work with your teams to do this and report back.)    I think the kind of culture change you are advocating requires more than delegation.  If you want to create a collaborative, compassionate culture, I don't think you can delegate this from behind your desk.  You actually have to live the vision, to BE this change.  This idea flies in the face of our traditional view of leadership as an elevated position in which others have limited or no access.

Perhaps this starts to address Rich's comment above as well.  HOW do we create culture change?

Thank you for the thought-provoking post John.

Deb