Why are past challenges and successes never considered by  new leaders taking responsibility for governments and their departments?

The phenomenon where new leaders often overlook past challenges and successes when taking responsibility for governments and their departments can be attributed to several factors:

1. **Desire for Change**: New leaders often come into their roles with a mandate to implement change. They may focus on their vision and agenda, believing that previous approaches were inadequate or outdated. This can lead to a dismissal of past experiences.

2. **Lack of Institutional Knowledge**: New leaders may not have a deep understanding of the history, culture, and complexities of the organization they are leading. This lack of familiarity can result in overlooking valuable lessons learned from past successes and failures.

3. **Political Dynamics**: In many cases, new leaders are appointed in a political context where they feel pressure to distance themselves from their predecessors. This can lead to a focus on new initiatives rather than building on previous work.

4. **Time Constraints**: Leaders often face immediate pressures and crises that require urgent attention. In such situations, they may prioritize quick fixes over a thorough analysis of past experiences.

5. **Cognitive Bias**: Leaders may have cognitive biases that affect their perception of past events. For example, they might focus on recent failures while ignoring successes, or they may have a tendency to overestimate their own ideas and solutions.

6. **Organizational Culture**: The culture within an organization can influence how past experiences are valued. If the culture does not emphasize learning from history, new leaders may not prioritize it either.

7. **Communication Gaps**: There may be insufficient communication of past experiences and lessons learned within the organization. If this information is not effectively shared, new leaders may not have access to it.

8. **Innovation Over Tradition**: In a rapidly changing world, there is often a strong emphasis on innovation. New leaders may prioritize new ideas and technologies over established practices, leading to a neglect of historical context.

9. **Accountability and Responsibility**: New leaders may feel a need to establish their own identity and accountability, which can lead them to reject previous strategies and outcomes, regardless of their effectiveness.

To mitigate these issues, new leaders can benefit from actively seeking out historical insights, engaging with long-term staff, and fostering a culture of learning that values both past successes and failures.