Jerry Pournelle, a prolific science fiction writer, blessed us with a particular bit of wisdom that the dubbed the Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
It states:
In any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representatives who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.
This is why government sucks, why government shouldn’t be relied upon to do the right thing, why socialism and communism will never work, and why free markets are the only real path to prosperity for all. It’s why NASA isn’t to whom we should look for innovation and advancement in space, it’s why defense spending is horribly inefficient, it’s why big companies often become sclerotic and vulnerable to competition from small startups and why they don’t remain ascendant forever, and it’s why all those of us who’ve worked for big companies eventually figure out that the bean counters run the show.
People may not want to believe that laws like this and the economics of the free market are as inexorable and irrefutable as gravity. People may want to believe that someone, a true Best-and-Brightest, can overcome these realities. No one can. This is the reality of the world. We prosper when we recognize it, not when we try to beat it.
Loading ...
The key clue here is “best and brightest”. ALL the best and brightest are like water under gravity. They take the easiest path to what they personally want.
The great social fiction is that people do things out of “public spirit”. That’s for Saints (very rare and not useful generally). The clever thing is to make the Organisation a valuable entry point for the rare, smart people. It must have PRACTICAL BENEFITS for its Directors and minions.
I ran a number of subsidiary such organisations as adjuncts to my commercial interests and a BIG feature was my putting on regular high quality nights/days for my unpaid volunteer workers. Made sure they were not out of pocket……
They also knew that I recruited staff from those non-profit enterprises for my business…..