Miss Management

          No one made more mistakes running a government office than Robert McNamara.  He was in charge of the Defense Department during the early stages of the Vietnam war and he said in 1962 that: “running the Department of Defense is not different from running Ford Motor Company or the Catholic Church … Once you get to a certain scale, it’s all the same”.   Back then, he believed any type of organization could be run by common techniques, the same system of management.  It was only later, after harsh experiences, he began to appreciate the importance differences in culture, history, values and traditions.   

          So McNamara was the worst of the worst  – but wait – he has finally been "Trumped" and now is nowhere in the leadership of those who mismanage.  Government is not like ordinary management.  It requires the directing of procedures in road building, Air traffic control, running the army and the navy (plus the Air Force), Public education, the environment and many, many other agencies.   From McNamara we learned that any manager has to know WHAT it is that he or she is managing. The president is more like a conductor of an great orchestra and he or she has to know the capabilities of the players and appreciate the understandings of the audience.   Anyone who is ready to "fire" a player over a mistake they make, or to convince the audience that a miserable song is really a masterpiece, is simply someone who doesn't belong in front of any orchestra.