Has anyone been involved in an organization which had a systemic culture problem?

Can it be fixed? Did Giuliani really fix the NYPD by the firings, etc?

My, limited, experience is that, while painful in the short term, the only solution is mass termination and rebuild.

I’m sure short term measures can help, but there’s such complete and utter contempt for tax payers, etc I’m not sure they can be salvaged as entities.

We have to have Congress/the courts/etc, under the USCON.

I’m not sure we need much else.

Changing the culture of an organization absolutely can be, and is done daily. There is an entire discipline solely devoted to management of change.

But I don’t think you can compare changing the culture of a business or company with changing the culture of the government. They operate completely different and what works for one probably won’t work in the other.

OK. Again, I’m not being a jackass, I am genuinely asking.

Why is it different?

Can you cite examples of entities which, successfully, changed their culture?

Integration of the military, I guess. But there’s still some weird racial differences in MOS, or there were.

I've seen culture changes when upper management changes. Key positions at the director level and up. Mostly the changes have been for the worse, though. Human nature makes us conform to pressures from above us, out of a natural survival instinct and a desire to move on up the economic ladder.

When things are rotten, the system itself is allowing it. Upper levels of authority are allowing it. The only way to start change is for the upper authorities to demand it and enforce it. But, imho, it also requires pruning out those who will seek to undermine the changes.

I believe it takes a sweeping removal of a lot of people. Companies do this all the time when merging or acquiring other companies. When new top management comes in they frequently purge those in the few layers below them.

It cannot be done delicately or precisely. And part of the strategy is to send the shock and awe message to those remaining who might be thinking about resisting.

And that is the challenge for DOGE and Trump. There are millions of government employees, not including the military, who are inside a system which has allowed the graft and waste. Their natural instinct will be to protect their income, which means resisting changes. They need to replace all the top levels of management in the administration, as well as many in the other layers.

I believe a lot of these systems were actually created to give cushy, no show, pay-off jobs for lackeys. Reforming it is not required. Eliminating it is preferred.

Organizations are like fruit bearing plants.

You have to prune the top and properly feed the bottom.

Cutting the tree down and replanting does nothing for the potential fruit you destroy in the process.

So, get to pruning, get to feeding.

You have to prune the "correct" parts from the top.

So, DEI, Affirmative action, Political Correctness and all the useless an wasteful garbage that gets introduced must be eliminated.

Those who are not dedicated to the mission, good and effective leaders who are also diligent followers, need to be culled.

Then the bottom. You need to "feed" the bottom with those who can be inspired, have a yearning and desire to be part of the organization and loyal to that while they are "in it", being able to adapt, and welcome good and proper change of direction, while seeking to excel and advance, and not shrink from hardship or challenge.

Good leaders will see those with the desirable traits withering from the tree and begin falling away, that is the first real indication that the organization needs attention that has been overlooked. And begin cutting away the useless parts sucking the life out it.


Thoughtful, methodical and continual husbandry is key. Radical, chainsaw, slash and burn is not.

But anyone that has seen a properly pruned tree, might be taken aback by its appearance as the affect can be dramatic.

Most of the handwringing and pearl clutching over Trump, DOGE and members of this administration's policy and methods is either the GDCs fear and loss of control and power, and those that fear the flashing and thunder of the shit storm they brewed.

I am not afraid. I want Trump and Company to keep hard charging and be relentless.

The short term pain is worth the many years of suffering to get here.

If anyone of you here (or those of like mind in your circle of "visible" friends) are troubled or concerned, just imagine 4 years of Kamala and her Shit Show. Seriously consider where we would be, with the real and present worldwide state of affairs.

I am not afraid.

I made my bed, and cleaned my rifle. Now, to get on with the day.

Since he's involved in both, maybe look a what's different now at X (Twitter) since Musk purchased it for your answer.
There are also examples of both good and bad in the corporate world, when companies have gone bankrupt and were bought and rebuilt.
Some did better than others so I'd look at what the successes had in common.

You can type that question into Google for it's AI version of the answer.

In my opinion, a large part of the Washington DC problem started with the Carter Administration which worked with the Dems in Congress to move the merit-based "super grades" in the civil service to a new "service," the "Senior Executive Service" which was to be freed from the merit-based requirements of the Civil Service, resulting in a highly politicized civil service controlled by whomever is in the White House and Congress. The Democratically controlled Congress bought into this because they wanted a more "responsive' civil service. Under different names, what we call DEI, acquired a foothold in the civil service and the military. Fortunately, the Reagan Administration happened and disrupted or slowed the transition. History, unfortunately, is prologue.