A BREAK
from corruption
This not
about corruption in DC.
It's
about the absence of management in DC.
I
sometimes revisit my youth and recall how difficult it was to learn how to
manage a business and to realize how much I still did not know when the game
was over. Too bad we only get to go around once.
I've
come to realize how few Americans understand even the rudiments of management
and how we consistently elect politicians without any consideration of their
experience, or skills, as managers. Understandably, our political class pays no
attention to the subject to the point where it is difficult to find anyone in
government who has ever run a business.
I can
hear it now: "What about the heads of non-profits, universities, large
farms etc.?" Okay, there are some skills in common, but in DC we have a
90+ % political class. They know how to run a campaign. In fact, that's what
they do, taking a rare break to tend to the peoples' business.
Good
managers delegate; they do not abdicate. The difference might be broadly
defined as supervision. A good manager is curious and interactive. He doesn't
ask, "How's it going?" He asks, "Have the prototypes all passed
inspection? "Has our supplier shipped the widgets? Do we have a
tracking number?" If a customer cancels an order, he will call or visit
the customer.
If the
governor of a state hears, even unofficially, of a major traffic jam
interfering with the commute of a large number of his citizens, he's curious,
he asks around, always checking what he's told by subordinates against
independent sources. If there are inconsistencies, his curiosity knows no
bounds. When a customer cancelled an order, my curiosity led me to some
interesting differences between what the customer said and the 'in house' version.
Of course, I wasn't running a campaign--only a business.
Given
the probable choices for president in 2016, I'll be surprised, amazed, if
whoever we elect is a better manager than Christie.
STRIKE,
is now available in
paperback. You can obtain it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble (use title and my
full name). Or, from me $12.00 post paid.
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