patrick.net

I was thinking about Chervron and how they have a president for upstream (oil discovery and crude) and downstream (refining and retail) business, each with specialty in that particular area only and the organization is too big to manage without specific expertise across many different government and business challenges. I really think that the US has been outsmarted by foreign countries lately and perhaps our executive leader is not cut it to compete in all fronts.

Think about it, we add representatives in the house, judges, states. The business of America has gotten 1000x bigger and exponentially more complicated since George Washington, yet we still have one president controlling the entire nation, a trillion dollar business, the biggest non-profit and international police.

Now we expect our executive to deal with our economy, domestic issues, seat appointments, monetary policy, war and foreign relations and foreign economic and social policies. I don't know about you, but that seems like a lot for one person to chew. It's not like the person have a lot of on-the-job training to get ready for the job as there is none other like it. With all the different issues, it is like having 12 CEO's in one package to really grasp the nuance of each issue. A leader is only as good as their decisions and how can one person be reasonably be able to make right decision on all these things without having to resort to hope for the best and pray.

That is on top of media demands, town halls, fund raising, party pimping, relection and family and personal time off. In all, it is an impossible job to do well, notwithstanding it is job with a four or eight year contract that's it. How can any person switch gears from health care to school, to taxes to economy to Osama Bin Laden so quickly and expect to make the right decisions, you can't.

I really think our executive is our liability, not because the lack of crenditials, intentions, or efforts, but because the job is impossible. You try to do everything only to end up doing nothing well. I really think for the best of the country going forward, the US president should be split between at least domestic and foreign. One president concentrate on issues on the domestic front and one president concentrate on issues in the foreign fronts. They are too different business like upstream and downstream business of a intergrated oil and gas company. At least this way I believe we can have better focus and expertise to make the right decisions and deal with them more effectively and timely.

Business is about information, strategy, speed, execution and accountability. If the Business of the US government is business, we will fail because all we do is debate and compromise. Perhaps our framework is too outdated for the 21st century?