Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A BREAK FROM CORRUPTION


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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