This year, the International Water Management Institute-IWMI-is 25. It is customary on such occasions to dust off the trophies and review a long list of accomplishments. The truth is, these self-congratulatory narrative chronologies are of little interest to a wide audience. More importantly, they are dangerous, because they reinforce the tendency of all organizations to rest on their laurels and preclude the kind of critical self-examination most needed at these milestones in corporate evolution.
For these reasons, IWMI has commissioned a series of essays, On Being 25. Each essay is a reflection on one of the many aspects
of an international agricultural research institution and what its past accomplishments mean for its future direction. Senior managers, past and present, and leading figures in the world of water have been invited to share their thoughts.
In addition to what we hope is a stimulating and thought-provoking series of essays, these pages offer a bit of history, some thoughts on corporate history, comments from former colleagues and announcements of events we are planning to celebrate this 25th Anniversary Year. We hope you will join us in some of the events and share your thoughts and suggestions on our content.
