Chicago Camps Podcast

Carmen Medina, a former CIA officer, shared her experiences and insights on being a 'rebel' within a bureaucratic setting during the Tent Talks session. Medina spent 32 years at the CIA, starting her rebellious journey in the mid-90s when the digital revolution sparked her interest. Despite facing resistance, she continued to advocate for digital adoption within the organization. Her narrative provided a wealth of advice for those keen on driving change within their organizations, emphasizing the importance of empathy, patience, and understanding organizational dynamics.Heretical Change and Organizational Resistance:Initial efforts to introduce digital adaptation at the CIA met with resistance due to the organization's contrasting ethos around secrecy.Encountering resistance led to a realization of the importance of aligning change proposals with organizational orthodoxy or finding overlapping interests.Approaching Change through Adjacency:Using adjacent areas of interest to bridge the gap between new ideas a