A culture of adaptation and improvement is the essence of Agile

I missed this post by David Anderson when it was originally written and only recently stumbled upon it. I find it quite interesting as I'm a fan of Jared Diamond :

To (perhaps overly) simplify, the Greenland Norse were a conservative culture. They stuck to what they knew. The continued to do things the way they always had and they hoped it would see them through adversity. In the end, this conservative approach that was resistant to change and preferred the status quo was what killed them. Had they been a liberal culture, ready to embrace new methods and open to the influence of other people and their ideas, then the Norse may well have adapted and eventually assimilated with the Inuit and lived harmoniously with them. But they didn't. Refusal to adapt to change killed them. They ceased to exist in the 14th Century.

So, this brought me to the conclusion that the ideal circumstances for Agile to thrive and gain adoption were in cultures that have both high social capital (high levels of trust) and are liberal (small "l") in thinking and open to new ideas, new thinking and influence from outsiders.