The former CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, said “The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo.” He was talking about constantly re-evaluating and bringing something that would make a still pond ripple. Thus was born the business term “disruption.” Where you take something that has settled or a company that has become routine and turn it on its head. Sometimes entire industries.
The most famous industry disruption is likely the introduction of the iPhone. It took telecommunications, partnered it with computers, and basically killed landline phones. Another good one is the disruption of the taxi industry with the introduction of Uber and Lyft. Or even AirBnB disrupting the hotel industry.
Disruption in business is often very good in the long run. Products like Netflix, Tesla, and Spotify are great examples.
But these all have facets of technology in them. Technology moves at a frenetic pace and trying to keep up is a challenge. What would disruption look like if it were taken out of business and applied, let’s say, to the government? Well, in order to do it, you’d need one of the most accomplished disruptors of all – Elon Musk. And you’d need a team of like-minded disruptors like his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team.
So you set them loose in the hen house like a platoon full of hungry foxes.
DOGE’s mission? To dismantle, streamline, and “disrupt” the federal government. Well, it’s been anything but smooth sailing. From attempting to shut down entire agencies to posting classified information online, the DOGE team has faced more backlash than a controversial tweet.
One of their most notable missteps was the recent leak of classified information about a U.S. intelligence agency. In a move that would make even the most seasoned hacker blush, the DOGE team accidentally posted sensitive data on their website, exposing the inner workings of the National Reconnaissance Office. Oops.
But it’s not just about the leaks. The DOGE team’s efforts to dismantle diversity programs and cut federal jobs have been met with fierce resistance from unions, lawmakers, and even the courts. Their attempts to buy out over two million federal workers, including those in the CIA, have been blocked by judges and criticized as a cybersecurity risk.
And even though the courts have caught up to DOGE trying to reign them in, their engineers have already captured terabytes of data. For what purpose? As yet unknown. This wasn’t trying to disrupt a still pond, this was trying to disrupt the side of a mountain.
The government is ripe for making things more efficient. We’ve all heard about delays with Veterans Affairs, for example, in veterans gaining care. What was Musk’s solution? To cut staff. He’s also cut staff at departments responsible for disease tracking, weather forecasting, and the Department of Education.
These cuts aren’t being done after efficiency experts provide studied conclusions. It’s done by a ketamine-fueled ding-a-ling who is playing God from his Cybertruck sandbox. This is taking a sledge hammer to an Easter egg hunt. It’s reckless and, frankly, stupid. Not to mention that nobody actually elected this doofus.
In the end, maybe it’s time for a little less disruption and more measured change. The government just doesn’t work like a business no matter how much you want it to. Unless your ultimate mission is to make the government fail altogether. Which certainly would be a disruption. A wise man once said, “disruption for the sake of disruption is a fool’s errand.”
(Get more on disruption and whatnot from Chris Kamler on the X machine, formerly known as Twitter and still known as Twitter to most, where you’ll find him as @chriskamler)
