Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Servant S-1 E-8

Vasya appointed all friends, including his ex-wife,😁 to head government ministries. Of course, they are unqualified by any standard measure. They know it. But to him they each have qualities (e.g. his ex-wife is his ex- because their arguments about finances led to divorce (so he made her chair of the central bank)) that make them perfect for each's portfolio. The first day on the job three of them (including the ex-) come to him in a panic about some problem in their departments (e.g. a friend who he made foreign minister has never heard of Uganda and has to make a statement on a coup d'etat there in ten minutes). In every case of crisis he tells them the same thing: "You're the Minister of X, you decide." Not because he is shirking presidential responsibility, because he trusts them. An exaggerated example, certainly, of a cardinal principle in management: Do not micro-manage. You hired the people who work for you; you hired them on reasons sufficient to you. Trust their competence to do their jobs well until they show you otherwise.