While I wouldn’t necessarily go about making changes the way Elon and Trump are doing these first few weeks in Trump’s second term, I don’t disagree with everything they are doing.
I’m a left-leaning libertarian. I like the idea of government helping people but my experience with government is that it is often (though not always) expensive, bureaucratic, bloated, inefficient and ineffective.
If I was going to reduce the size of government, I’d follow the money too. I’d look for programs that spent the most money and dig into the details of how it’s spent. I’d use keyword searches to find projects and departments that were initiated in a different era, are antithetical to core US values or no longer make sense.
We all know the government is full of places where taxpayer money is being misused.
I’ve been part of multiple corporate restructurings that were chaotic and disruptive. I’ve been downsized. I’ve done the downsizing. I’ve had to deal with changes in strategy, product lines, service offerings, roles and responsibilities. I’ve been through bankruptcies, restructuring, acquisitions, mergers and reorganizations. I’ve been hired to “turn-around” underperforming sales teams and been subject to entire division shutdowns.
It’s disruptive.
To the people affected, it can be quite painful. Existing employees frequently resist change. They want to maintain the status quo in which they understand the culture, people, procedures and “rules”. It impacts their security, futures, finances and careers.
I get it. I really do, having been on both sides of these situations.
Here are some of things I learned:
- Some people will refuse to change. They have to go – even when that person was me.
- Some people will help the new people in charge and will be enthusiastic supporters. They have a chance to rise rapidly in the new org.
- It’s inevitably going to suck for a while. New systems, new processes, learning as you go, trying different methods are all challenging. Some changes will take time to get better. Some will be flat out wrong. Eventually, it becomes the new normal. Hopefully it’s one that delivers better results.
Change is hard. That’s why most people won’t do it.
All that being said, this is easy for Elon and Trump. Their lives will not be turned upside down by all the changes they are jamming through. Their jobs, finances, health insurance, careers and security will not be affected in the least.
Being in charge and ruling by dictate is easy. You don’t have to live in the chaos and uncertainty.
It won’t be easy for the affected departments, employees and the people they serve.
Some will have a very difficult time. It could impact their lives forever.
That doesn’t make every change bad.
Only time will tell how this works out.