How to stay clean when the bureaucracy gets dirty.

I had a really nice talk with Hunter's dean of student life the other day - somehow, even with all his responsibilities, he always finds the time to just talk. And that is at the heart of this blog post.

He's worked at Hunter for 39 years now, and he always gets to his office before 6AM. He attends every student play and drives up to Hunter's leadership retreat in upstate New York just to thank everyone for coming. He meets thousands of new students every semester and remembers their names. He answers students' email on Sundays. He is one of the few administrators at Hunter College whom everyone respects and appreciates.

I joked with him about the beast of bureaucracy, and he told me a great Eisenhower story that summarizes it pretty well. Apparently, when President Eisenhower decided to leave his position as president of Columbia University and run for president of the United States, he said he did it because he wanted to get out of politics. Yeah...

When I asked the dean how he managed to maintain his identity and passion in the bureaucracy, he said that for him it has just been a matter of honesty and integrity. If you ask him a question he will answer it, and the values behind his answers will always be consistent.

I like that answer. I like it a lot. It means that perhaps the way to win in the game of politics is by refusing to play or perhaps by playing only by your own rules.

Comments

[Bob MacDonald]

This is an interesting post with the most perceptive thought being the last one. When the story of successful entrepreneurs and bureaucracy busters are studied, one thing in common is found: Winners cheat on dishonest rules that are put in place to block their success. When I say "cheat" on rules, I am not talking about being dishonest or immoral, but going against rules that are outmoded, dishonest or just put in place by bureaucrats to protect the status quo and inhibit innovation. When Fred Smith started FEDEX he had to cheat on the rule that said you could not compete against the US Postal Service. When Columbus discovered America he had to cheat on the rule that "the world is flat." If you want to be a successful entrepreneur or beat the system of bureaucracy you must be willing to challenge the rules of the status quo and if found outdated or dishonest, be willing to cheat on them and make new rules. www.bobmaconbusiness.com

[Tania]

That's great advice, Bob.
A friend of mine (who is well acquainted with bureaucracy) once told me that his rule is to never ask for permission if the answer might be no. He does what he thinks needs to be done and, if necessary, apologizes later. In most cases, he doesn't end up needing to apologize, and the rule that he successfully broke becomes more clearly useless.
It's a risky endeavor, but it seems much more fun to play it that way.

[Lathres B]

Beast of Bureaucracy. Having majored in Organizational Leadership, I have studied the "Beast" and believe that honesty and integrity will never cut-away the underlining problems of bureaucracy.

However, honesty and integrity will keep you sane as you maneuver the static bureaucracy maze.