This year, the phrase that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been putting forward is transformational diplomacy, presumably as opposed to the foreign policy that fails to transform hostile, tyrannical regimes into democracies.

The meme (myth?) of transformation is alive and well:

"We need every nickel, we need every innovation, every good idea to strengthen and transform our military. A new idea overlooked might well be the next threat overlooked. If we do not fix what is broken and encourage what is good and what works, if we do not transform, our enemies surely will find new ways to attack us." -- Donald Rumsfeld

Need a primer? Try this:

Transformation is foremost a continuing process. It does not have an end point.

Transformation is meant to create or anticipate the future.

Transformation is meant to deal with the co-evolution of concepts, processes, organizations and technology. Change in any one of these areas necessitates change in all.

Transformation is meant to create new competitive areas and new competencies.

Transformation is meant to identify, leverage and even create new underlying principles for the way things are done.

Transformation is meant to identify and leverage new sources of power.

Clear now? (Did I mention leverage?)