Ordnung Muss Sein
Tim Bowman
Author of The Leadership Letter weekly column; Consulting Expert with OnFrontiers; advisor and mentor on leadership and public service; retired U.S. Army and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Officer.
February 10, 2025
Dear Leaders,
Order makes things work, for while the abstract is fine when conceptualizing, turning concepts into reality requires an orderly process, lest it never become reality.? Leadership is in knowing when to upset the status quo and when to bring order to chaos.?
While the mix of politics and governance is seldom neat, the current chaos upsetting the established order is a paradox of proportions. ?Few will argue the point that government agencies can become so hidebound and entrenched that the system merits a shakeup, but going in with nothing more than a concept produces not solutions, but new problems.
President Trump and his supporters consider the US federal government to be so intractable that they refer to it as “the deep state,” and he believes, with some credibility, that the career civil servants thwarted his efforts in his first term.? Working more on an idea of sowing mayhem and destruction, along with a modicum of revenge, he loosed Elon Musk and his acolytes on various agencies and departments, firing anyone who gets in the way, and stopping operations, all in the name of saving taxpayer money.
The fault lies in working on innuendo and concept rather than taking an objective view of reality.? By going in with the preconceived and stated intent that there is fraud, waste, and abuse from which they can wring massive savings, they take no time in examining process and result and go straight to the predetermined end.? The real end is inertia and chaos that is evidently more the desired intent.
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Intentional or not, their mistakes are not uncommon within organizations, the federal government included.? My agency was well known for production standards that were the subject of endless tweaking and adjusting, often with little analysis.? More than once I saw new managers come in and announce higher production quotas with little to no review to sustain or justify the new demands.? As you would expect, the workforce pushed back through their union, bringing about the needed analysis, but often with an end result that satisfied neither side.
A little shake-up can be a good thing, for rote thinking gets you into the rut of “we’ve always done it that way,” a phrase that is engraved in my top ten worst things you can tell me. ?Wise leaders will take time to observe and analyze to determine what needs to be done, devise a plan, get buy in from those affected, and see it through with decisive action.?
Change is about making things better for everyone involved, and not about imposing your will or creating disorder to the point of nihilism, for leadership is not about the leader, but the people you lead and the mission to which you are entrusted.? Order must prevail, but as part of a system open to examination and something new and different.? ??
Sincerely,
Tim
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2 周Tim Bowman Reading the news on the changes your new political leaders are making has been unsettling for me. Praying for wisdom.
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2 周I have so much to say here Tim lol Order is important for turning concepts into reality, but the real skill lies in knowing when to disrupt and when to stabilize. It’s an act that requires both vision and restraint. Both are woefully lacking. Disruption without a clear, objective plan often creates more chaos than solutions. It’s one thing to identify inefficiencies but another entirely to address them constructively. As you pointed out, preconceived notions (like the assumption of widespread fraud or waste) can blind leaders to the actual nuances of the systems they’re trying to reform. Change should aim to make things better for everyone involved, not just serve as a tool for imposing will or settling scores. Order and openness to examination aren’t opposing forces. They’re frankly two sides of the same coin. I hope you are doing well friend. Happy Wednesday!
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2 周Well said! Vision sparks innovation, but without order, even the best ideas remain just ideas. Great leadership is the balance between disruption and discipline, knowing when to challenge the norm and when to create structure for real impact.
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2 周In this instance trump and musk have just misused taxpayer money in an effort to try to streamline aspects of the government departments targeted. I bet they didn't hire individuals with statistical analytics to help explain why some processes are slow and why some processes are the way they are. I doubt this is going turn out well before 3 months pass and go deeper than the valley allows.
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2 周Tim Bowman ?spot on—leadership isn't just about driving action; it’s also about understanding when to step back, listen, and observe. In times of change and chaos, knowing when to speak, and choosing the right moment, can have a significant impact on the outcome.