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Sclerotic

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(pronounced skluh-rot-ik)  adjective

Definition

1. relating to or affected with sclerosis.  2. rigid; having difficulty or showing unwillingness to adapt; extremely resistant to change.

Sclerosis (pronounced skluh-roh-sis)  =  1. abnormal hardening of tissue, esp. of the nervous system.  2. an inability or extreme resistance to change, adapt, or adjust.

Main Example

• Now that the "Arab Spring" has dethroned another dictator--Muammar Gaddafi, the question on most everyone's lips is: When will we see the downfall of some of the other authoritarian leadership in that region, especially the regimes in Syria and Yemen which are among the most sclerotic.

Workplace Examples

• As recently as the mid-1990s, our company had barely a hundred employees. Now that we are a multibillion-dollar corporation, we run the risk of sclerosis setting in… of losing our entrepreneurial spirit. It's imperative that we start infusing our ranks with new blood on a regular basis so that we remain nimble.
• The remarkable thing about our manager, Jodie, is that she is open to new ideas and she also brings several of her own to the table. What a contrast from her predecessor who was pretty much sterile and sclerotic!

Other Examples

• this author saying in a speech: "The biggest factor impeding our nation's progress is the inability of lawmakers in D.C. to reach a compromise on vital issues. The United States is suffering from acute political sclerosis."
• a new manager exclaiming in frustration: "This place is so rigidified... so sclerotic... people are unbelievably content with the way things are. I don't know if I can ever turn this ship around."
• responding to calls for an increase in regulation of his industry, a CEO saying: "That would be an open invitation to business sclerosis! Our industry would start languishing, and would quickly lose its international competitiveness."
• in a speech delivered to the European Parliament, and perhaps in reference to the Continent's 35-hour work weeks and the enormous amount of time some young people spend in cafes and piazzas, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair warning European nations to shed their sclerotic working practices or risk being obliterated by the stiff new competition from China, India, and Brazil
• several nations in Africa and Asia being "economic basket cases" thanks to widespread corruption and sclerotic leadership at the helm

© 2012 V.J. Singal
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