Elon Musk seems to think that the government can be handled in the same way as a business might be — by a ruthless owner. His entrepreneurial notion of “chainsaw disruption” lacks the very careful management attention that all entrepreneurs know is required to minimize damage on those impacted. Thoughtful entrepreneurs with a moral compass give great thought to anticipating the harsh consequences of such disruptive action.
Musk seems to be missing that moral compass. He seems to think that the measure of success of his undertakings is best measured in dollars cut, people fired and organizations discarded — regardless of the underlying purpose of their work and their mission. His reward is always expressed in monetary terms and his enablers (investors) seem to be always seeking maximization of this metric.
Over the course of nearly 20 years starting and running Chaminade University’s Hogan Entrepreneurs, my team met with a very large swath of Hawaii’s entrepreneurs almost on a weekly basis. Some were wildly successful and many were just starting, but all demonstrated and articulated values that were compatible with Chaminade’s educational ethos.
They were tenacious, they were passionate about their pursuits, they valued very hard work, and they to a person, showed concern for the civil society of which they were part.
They modeled in many ways, our program motto: Do business things which make social sense, and do social things which make business sense. They seemed to understand the connection between securing a profit and addressing the interests of the people their business venture impacted.
All spoke of passion and most spoke of disruptive approaches to managing — both very basic tenets of the entrepreneurial way.
Regrettably, today the country seems to be in the grip of some billionaire entrepreneurs who seek mega net worth with no readily discernible and equitable connection to the interests of the many people impacted by their business actions.
Tesla’s Elon Musk is attempting to reshape the American federal government with his brutal but apparently to him, enjoyable, “chainsaw” approach. He has no regard for those impacted by his actions. He is of course empowered by President Trump, who bestowed on him a new office — the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — with the power to facilitate his assault on trusted U.S. institutions.
According to The New York Times, a Musk person was hired in the U.S. Digital Service even before President Biden left office. And recent reports about DOGE teams forcing their way into the completely independent nonprofit United States Institute for Peace (USIP) seem to suggest that federal marshals, the FBI and D.C. police supported their assault instead of defending the office and its people from the unwarranted invasion and takeover. Former diplomat and CEO of USIP George Moose was unceremoniously told it was time for him to go.
Trump and his billionaire campaign donor Musk fail to recognize that success in the public sector is measured by different metrics. Each job cut, each organization disabled, each dollar saved means that a service, determined by the legislature as desirable, will not be performed. Lives will be impacted, families will be hurt and vital needs will go unaddressed.
Of course fraud, waste and abuse must be addressed — but with a scalpel, not a chainsaw or woodchipper.
While we still remain a nation that respects the rule of law, Musk and the president will have to deal with the media, a court system, and possibly in time, a Congress that wakes up from its moral stupor and reclaims its role as a co-equal branch of government. Congress can stop the mayhem tomorrow if the Republicans find their spine. For the sake of our democracy and the lives of all Americans — including all MAGA voters, not one of whom voted for Musk — that day cannot come soon enough.
John Webster is a retired executive who worked for IBM and later KPMG; he started The Hogan Program funded by the Hogan Family Foundation.
