I’ve been the editor of several publications in my career. I managed teams of writers and editors — and did my best to empower them, motivate them, and get them to work together to produce newspapers and magazines we could all be proud of. I was, to use the term loosely, a “boss.” I made my share of mistakes, but I always tried to treat my employees with respect and compassion.
I’ve also been an employee for most of my career, working for publishers in Missouri; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; and Memphis. Almost all of my bosses were great people, but I’ve had a couple of stinkers, and they had something in common: They had no idea what their employees did to create the product and didn’t really care to learn. They’d never written, edited, interviewed, researched, reported, or had to meet a printer’s immoveable deadline. They were bottom-line guys who treated their employees as though they were working in a widget factory.
One of them (in a city that shall remain nameless) called a staff meeting in the conference room on his first day. (This, I should mention, was after we’d watched for a week as the publisher’s office underwent a massive redo: plush Oriental carpet, gleaming teak desk, sleek lamps, cushy couch and chairs.) Anyway, our new boss looked around at the 15 or so writers, art directors, and editors gathered in front of him and said: “You’re probably asking yourselves, ‘What does this dude know about magazines? He’s a real estate guy.’ Well, let me tell you, folks, I read lots of magazines and I know a good one when I see one. And we’re going to put out a great magazine and we’re going to add 25 percent to the bottom line. And if you’re not ready for some big changes, you should leave this room right now.”
Nobody left the room, but everybody knew one thing: We were now working for an asshole. His first directive was to have everyone write down what they did each week and how many hours it took. (If you think anyone’s response didn’t add up to 40 or more hours, you’re pretty naive.) A month later, he called me into his office and told me he was firing our popular food writer, the senior copy editor, and an associate art director. We didn’t need them, he said. The remaining staff could pick up the slack. He didn’t bother to ask how I thought we might be able to save some money on editorial costs; he just made an arbitrary decision.
Any of us who has had to deal with that kind of capricious overlord should be able to relate to what hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been going through recently, as Elon Musk, a man with little understanding of (or respect for) what any of them do, runs a chain saw through their agencies, eliminating people who inspect and direct our airplanes, protect our food from contamination, provide disaster relief, run our national parks, and administer Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid funds.
Most horrifying of all, Musk has fired 6,700 people at IRS and is seeking access to the financial information of every taxpayer, business, and nonprofit in the country. Giving that kind of power to anyone, let alone an erratic South African billionaire with no official government title, is incredibly foolish.
Speaking of which: On Saturday, Musk sent the following email to more than a million federal employees at the F.B.I., State Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Personnel Management, Food and Drug Administration, Veterans Affairs Department, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished this week and cc your manager.”
Sound familiar? This kind of directive is so utterly stupid. Who thinks any employee would be unable to come up with five things that they did at their job? And who’s going to review the hundreds of thousands of responses? It’s pointless busy work, meant only to intimidate and induce fear. It’s the tactic of a weak man, someone who thinks he’s running a widget factory, someone with no idea of how to be a real leader. Unfortunately, the Democratic party hasn’t found the courage to call out this reckless deconstruction of our public agencies in any organized or meaningful way. That window is rapidly closing, and it’s time to stand tall. Like a boss.