Larry Cooley on Why Great Pilots Fail and the Hard Truth About Scaling Impact
- Feb 18
- 2 min read
Larry Cooley joins us to explore how to achieve sustainable impact at meaningful scale.
As co-founder of the Scaling Community of Practice, Larry has spent more than two decades examining why promising innovations so often fail to reach the scale required to address global problems. Drawing on 50 years of experience, from his early work as a Peace Corps volunteer to senior roles advising governments, foundations and multilateral institutions, he offers a candid assessment of what is and is not working.
At the centre of the conversation is a shift in thinking. Larry distinguishes between transactional scaling, which focuses on expanding projects, and transformational scaling, which seeks to embed change within the systems that deliver services at scale. Projects matter, he argues, but only insofar as they serve as vehicles for systemic change. Without attention to the institutions, incentives and delivery mechanisms that sustain impact over time, even the most effective pilot will struggle to move beyond proof of concept.
A key theme is the sobering reality that most successful pilots do not scale. Estimates suggest that between 70 and 95 per cent fail to achieve broad, sustained uptake. This is rarely due to weak ideas. Rather, the barriers lie in the pathway from innovation to institutionalisation. The assumption that another actor will step in to take a proven model to scale has often proved misplaced.
Larry describes the work of the Scaling Community of Practice, now a global network of 5,000 members across more than 120 countries, convening practitioners, funders and policymakers to share lessons and develop practical guidance. The community has recently completed 28 case studies examining how different types of funders approach the question of scale.
These studies highlight eight core elements required for transformational scale and examine how internal policies, incentives and funding models either enable or hinder progress.
About Larry Cooley
Larry Cooley is President Emeritus of Management Systems International (MSI) and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. A specialist in the fields of organisational development and large-system change, he has served as advisor to cabinet and sub-cabinet officials in 7 US Federal Agencies and more than a dozen foreign countries.
In 2014, he co-founded and continues to co-lead a 5,000-member global community of practice focused on scaling up development and climate outcomes with members from 127 countries.
Larry is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and serves as a board member for a wide range of non-profit organisations including the Society for International Development (board chair), World Learning (past chair), Elma Philanthropies, and the Carter School of Peace and Conflict Resolution.
He has served as an adjunct professor at Princeton University, John Hopkins University, American University, Georgetown University, and the National War College.