On NOT Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater
Balance Is the Ultimate Truth
My father worked for one company his entire life; had a spectacular retirement where he traveled with my mom and played golf every other day; never had a serious illness; was married for 73 years and passed away at 100. He wasn’t a wealthy man, but he was a “rich” man in the sense that he lived a simple life within his means, had a long and loving marriage and family with ten grandkids and thirteen great-grandkids, and at the end of each day he enjoyed one libation with Mom. The secret to his success as he would often say was, “All things in moderation!“
Moderation, bi-partisan, across-the-aisle, compromise -- well-known principles that have been around for a while but don’t seem to be working in Washington, DC these days. Maybe we need a new approach and we need a new word that best captures the right perspective. You might have a thought about this but I’ll go first and suggest:
BALANCE
A long time ago, I read a book titled, “Balance, The Fundamental Verity,“ by Orlando Smith (1842-1908). This book opened my eyes to the universality of “balance” and taught me to see the beauty and power of balance in all things around me: universe, earth, nature, and human affairs. Smith’s belief was that, “Balance rules the world….and is an active governing principle, supreme, central, automatic.” The balancing force which is grounded in the laws of physics is everywhere and yet nowhere, because we don’t see it, hear it, touch it, smell it or taste it. But we do sense it, and when things become unbalanced, “Things fall apart.” (Yeats)
When we look up at the stars and the moon and the Earth at night, we marvel how perfectly the universe is balanced by the laws of gravitation. When a bird flies by, the balancing of the aerodynamic lift of the bird’s wings against the downward pull of gravity enables the miracle of flight. And in our own person, achieving a sensible work-life balance can lead to a loving partnership and a happy family.
Unfortunately, humans have a fascination with “extremes” (including lies and conspiracies) which may look and sound exciting on paper or podcast, but when challenged these extreme ideas and actions often collapse under the weight of their illegitimacy. It behooves the American public and its leaders to gravitate towards a balanced sweet spot in everything we do.
For those new leaders who are now charged with overall responsibility to manage a large public federal institution, with all due respect please be careful what you tear down because there is some measure of evolution behind everything. Things are there for a good reason. “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” as the old saying goes. Slashing and burning institutions may sound good at a press conference, but if you are itching to dismantle an institution or program that the American people depend on, you might think twice. The unintended consequences could come back to haunt you.
Searching for inefficiencies, waste, fraud, and faulty strategic thinking is not a bad idea. Corporations do this every day. But tearing down a government institution that is providing valuable services to deserving citizens is a different matter. If you go too far, you may permanently damage the institution that you should have been trying to improve. But if you’ve got a fever to just burn it down, then you’re not a leader who is governing. You are an anarchist, destroying for destroying’s sake.
Consider approaching this task with an attitude that assumes there is some good here, good people, and good programs. From the corporate world’s best practices playbook, make it a “continuous improvement” initiative instead and:
Balance [eliminating the bad] with [keeping the good].
Balance [replacements] with [fixing and improving the existing].
Balance [some cost cutting] with [targeted smart investing for the future].
Balance [some layoffs] with [keeping valuable institutional knowledge (people)].
Balance [“my way or the highway”] with [NOT reinventing the wheel].
Does this not sound like common sense?
If you’re keen to experiment with some big and out-of-the-box ideas, please do so with your own startup in your own garage. This is not the time to use the peoples’ money to tinker with a government institution as your own personal thought experiment. It is time to govern competently for the common good.
Let BALANCE guide you. But take heed; balance requires discipline, patience, restraint, wisdom, vision, and common sense.
So, are we up to the task?
Hey Scott-I just wanted to tell you that I was so interested that I found a copy of Balance: The Fundamental Verity published in 1903 on Abe's Books & purchased it. It's been added to my reading queue & will come up some. Enjoying your essays immensely. I hope all is well.