As I savor my first cup of 'joe' this morning, I am thinking about the U.S. Post Office and the testimony of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to Congress on Monday.
I cannot fathom how the man was a 'successful' business man given his answers to the committee. When queried by committee member Katie Porter about the litany of changes occurring at the post Office, his response was that either it didn't happen or he didn't order them. When she asked If he did not order these actions to be taken, "please tell the committee who did." DeJoy then said, "I do not know," but did finally acknowledge all this stuff actually happened. Let's break down that answer in simple management terms.
If you are the CEO of an organization (Postmaster General) and major changes are taking place that are both impacting the performance of the organization and getting major publicity throughout the country, wouldn't you want to know "who the hell authorized them?" If not, you are clearly unfit for the job. To say, "I do not know" is management malfeasance of the first order. Clearly, we know what his intent was. It was to avoid telling the truth to Congress. He knows damn well who authorized the changes, and most likely, personally directed them. No CEO says, "I don't know" when he is in charge of an organization. Maybe he learned, "I take no responsibility at all" from Cheeto which was his response when asked about the lack of Coronavirus testing.
To finish this line of thought, you need to look at his answers when asked by Porter that if he didn't direct the changes, would he commit to reversing these changes? DeJoy said "No." So, if there are any, they're meaningless and "I refuse to reverse these changes." Wouldn't a better answer from the double talking Postmaster General be that I am going to review the nature of the changes I didn't authorize, look at the data behind them, and then determine if they should continue or be reversed? No. I am categorically not reversing changes that I didn't authorize or know from where they came.
Welcome to the world of political appointees. DeJoy was appointed because he was a loyal Republican donor and a "successful" businessman. The absence of any knowledge of the Post Office operations is not considered significant in running an organization that delivers 48% of the world's mail and has a payroll of $2 billion a year. A great place for amateurs to learn the business.
On that sad note, I am having a jalapeno bagel with my second cup of coffee.