I guess when it comes to writing blogs I have discovered that I am an amateur. With grammar mistakes, spelling errors, poor structure, an occasional stretching of the truth, maybe errant factual omissions, and of course erratic timing, there is plenty of evidence for my amateur status. As a writer I might be able to find a job at some small town weekly newspaper where more emphasis is placed on filling a page than the expertise and professionalism of the content. I might be able to earn minimum wage, I am no Peggy Noonan.
Haven’t updated this blog for several weeks and it’s not been for lack of material or even ideas. Seems our government gives us something to criticize, comment, or cuss most every day. With the Affordable Health Care Act there has been plenty almost hourly. I listened to part of the questioning of Secretary Sebelius, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her as it was very obvious that those questioning her were not after the truth but trying to score points. Both Republicans and Democrats were “commenting” for show, not searching the real issues for solutions.
Beyond the fractious meeting there was further proof that solutions were not sought, only points. I watched the hearing during my lunch hour when I returned to work the top tweet on my tweeter feed from a representative read something like “here is my YouTube video of me questioning Sebelius” . Not “here is what we should do”
“When do you think you can have it fixed? What do you need from us to fix it? Should we postpone enrolment? If so, for how long? Based on what you have seen so far should we change the statutes?” These are the questions that good overseers, good executives, and board members ask. I have worked for a few. “Who can we blame?, shouldn’t we fire you?” Even the words of naive support like “it’s a hard task, every project has bumps” are not furthering a solution. I have worked for a few of these guys also. Amateurs!
Yes from the President on down there has been a lack of proper management. As a sort of explanation the President and others have compared this to a large product release the likes of Apple, Google, or even Ford, saying that even those made mistakes and had bumps in big projects. This morning it dawned on me what went wrong and were we got off track.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO earned $376 million in 2011 (including stock awards) in 2012 it was 4.2 million. Alan Mulally, Ford’s CEO, had an earnings package of $29.5 million in 2011. Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, has a net worth of something like 8.3 billion. These men are paid well for their talents. The President’s salary is $400,000 per year, our Senators and Representatives are making about $174,000. By comparison, when it comes to running big projects, we have hired minimum wage talent.
535 amateurs
and one here pretending to be a writer, trying to remind you of that sad fact.
David
