Page 189 - The Drucker Lectures

170 [ The Drucker Lectures

one-fifth of the American electorate that voted for Mr. Perot
made it very clear that they did not greatly care what part of
the government would be downsized, as long as the government
would be downsized, as long as the deficit would be cut—and
without additional taxes. The danger here is very great that gov-
ernment will be exposed to something very similar to what has
happened in a lot of big companies. I call it “amputation without
diagnosis.” In a lot of big companies, there has been wide slash-
ing without any clear idea of what to slash, why to slash, and
what to keep. The results have been very unsatisfactory. In big
company after big company, you have an announcement in one
year that the company would lay off 12,000 people—and a year
later comes the second announcement that it will lay off another
12,000 people without any improvement in results.
Unless the federal government really starts to reinvent gov-
ernment, we face downsizing for the sake of downsizing—that
is, slashing and cutting for the sake of the numbers rather than
to restore government to function, to strength, to performance.
What is needed for the next phase—and I don’t think we can
afford to wait very long—is to ask the basic questions: What
is the function of this agency? If we were not doing this today,
knowing what we now know, would we go into it? Is the mission
of this agency or of any of its programs still vital? And if it is,
how should or could it best be carried out?
Do not start out with what should be abandoned. Start out
by thinking through what should be strengthened and built. Do
not start out by trying to save money. Start out by trying to build
performance. I do not know how much time we have. But unless
we at least demonstrate that this is the way government is go-
ing, we will, I am afraid, inescapably be subjected to amputation
without diagnosis.
There are the beginnings of doing the right thing. The De-
partment of Agriculture, quite clearly, is asking basic questions