A Letter To Elon Musk - by Francis Fukuyama - Persuasion
Today, we are delighted to feature Francis Fukuyama in the pages of Persuasion once again. But some of you may not know that he writes a regular column, “ Frankly Fukuyama,” which recently became part of the Persuasion family.
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Congratulations on the resounding victory of your candidate, Donald Trump, a result to which you contributed significantly. I understand that you are tapped to become an efficiency Czar in the new administration, a post that will be very critical since the federal bureaucracy does indeed need fixing. However, I have some suggestions for things to keep in mind when embarking on this post.
As I’m sure you know, you will find working in government very different from working in the private sector. The chief difference is that people in government are hugely constrained by rules. For example, you cannot begin firing people on day one as you did at Twitter. Federal employees are covered by a host of job protections created by Congress. Trump has a plan to eliminate those protections by restoring an executive order from his first administration to create a “ Schedule F” category that would permit the president to fire any worker at will. But such a move will be heavily contested, and it will likely be months before the legal barriers to action are eliminated.
