Thursday, September 29, 2005
Anthony Williams
What to make of his time as Mayor? He sums it up best himself:
One point of criticism regarding the Mayor. He often talked about his passionate desire to improve D.C.'s public schools, but in this case his words are not supported by his record. He said he liked charter schools and that he would turn vacant school buildings over to house them but this never occurred. I must, however, thank him tremendously for his brave support of private school vouchers. Without his encouragement the plan would have without doubt failed in Congress.
PermaLink | 4:43 AM |
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"You really should not do this job unless you're willing to put in that enormous amount of effort," he added. "You should not do the job unless you're willing to take risks. And you shouldn't do the job unless you're willing to lose the job, too."Mr. Williams took risks early on in shaking up D.C.'s inept bureaucracy, closing D.C. General, and encouraging development in the face of those who criticized him for turning his back on his own people. But as I have often said, for those in high profile management jobs it may be best to know in advance that you have a relatively short term (around 4 years) so that you can come in, make difficult decisions, improve things, and then get out. If you are there for the long-term then it changes the incentives behind what you do. You naturally become much more interested in survival then innovation.
One point of criticism regarding the Mayor. He often talked about his passionate desire to improve D.C.'s public schools, but in this case his words are not supported by his record. He said he liked charter schools and that he would turn vacant school buildings over to house them but this never occurred. I must, however, thank him tremendously for his brave support of private school vouchers. Without his encouragement the plan would have without doubt failed in Congress.
PermaLink | 4:43 AM |
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