The Work Below the Waterline

Ten Percent of Government Work is Visible to the Public

Since leaving government service a few years ago, I’ve been observing the president from the outside – and I’ve been thinking more about what’s *not* happening behind the scenes than about what is...

A lot of government work is dramatic and there are a lot of public aspects to it (as there should be), but pop culture makes government work seem more dramatic and more public than it actually is.

In reality, ten percent of government work is visible to the public; the rest is below the waterline. In the words of a former boss, the work revolves around the “obligation to make sound and ethical decisions, and to do so based on a continuous cycle of learning.” 

“That obligation,” he said, “necessarily entails several critical tasks that all revolve around big ideas: working hard to develop the right big ideas, communicating those big ideas effectively, and then overseeing their implementation.” 

“Beyond that, a leader must also seek and capture feedback – best practices, lessons that need to be learned, and so on. All of this comprises a fundamental cycle of strategic leadership, not at all difficult to understand, but often very hard to carry out properly.” 

I’ve worked directly for two four-star generals and two secretaries of defense. They all had one characteristic in common: they *never* stopped working. In fact, their lives were optimized so they did nothing *but* work. 

Think of the hardest you’ve ever concentrated in your life, when you were at your most productive for hours at a time. Many senior government officials sustain that state day after day for years at a time. 

A lot of the work is slog: studying intelligence reports, engaging in the substance – and in the national security context, trying to stay a step ahead of the enemy. To quote Hemingway, the important thing is to “work without applause.” 

One former boss wrote to a confidant, “Were I to climb the Matterhorn, I’d do it at night so no one could know; my satisfaction is doing a job well and to the most effective degree possible.” 

(And yet … no one is perfect. No one is indispensable. Everyone is fallible, especially the powerful. And our nation is not defined by our leaders, but rather by our fellow citizens.) In the words of Bob Gates, “there are no unalloyed heroes…” 

But take a moment and put yourself in the Oval Office with the president. Does anyone, anywhere believe he has the slightest interest in doing the work below the waterline? Who’s the sentinel pulling it all together? That's what scares me the most.