Why do we cling to the view that only the top can initiate significant change? Is it just our unwillingness to give up a familiar mental model? Is it the fear of stepping out of line without the imprimatur of the hierarchy? Perhaps, also, there is an element of self-protection - the comfort of being able to hold someone else, namely, top management, responsible for the lack of effective leadership. There is no doubt that a CEO opposed to fundamental change can make life difficult for internal innovators, but this hardly proves that only the CEO can bring about significant change. At the very least, shouldn't we be suspicious of the kneejerk tendency of people in organizations to "look upward" and expect top management to fix things?