An excellent post, and an excellent person to read about; thank you!
I think this's a problem so often in America these days: management fails to deal with something until it becomes a crisis, the crisis is solved at great effort, and then there're no consequences on the people who failed, and nobody learns lessons for the future. I don't know how to change this unless we restructure corporations which would have too many other issues. Even if we fight to get good people into management, they'd be fighting their own incentives, so it'd need to be a highly-sustained effort.
But maybe the core problem is broader, in the national mood. Too often, Americans fail to prepare for something that's completely foreseeable, until it actually shows up on top of them.
Also, you're right that the Pony Express never turned a profit... because they never got a federal mail contract. The Postmaster General was a Southerner, and he insisted on giving the contract to the Butterfield Stagecoach which ran along a southern route (and took much, much longer to do it). To his partial credit, the Postal Service had a longstanding practice of giving contracts to stagecoach lines or railways, so as to encourage broader transportation rather than just horses carrying only mail.
It really is amazing how government contracts can make or break a company, even way back then. In addition to airmail and airline companies, I'm reminded of the part of the perfectionists, which I reviewed a couple months back, where it talks about the government contract for repeating rifles and ho Eli Whitney totally defrauded the government over it.
I got into the habit of reviews like this (which don't get as much interest as my easier to write posts, alas) because of people like Matt Lakeman, Jane Psmith, and Scott Alecander. If you enjoyed this you might like their book reviews too!
An excellent post, and an excellent person to read about; thank you!
I think this's a problem so often in America these days: management fails to deal with something until it becomes a crisis, the crisis is solved at great effort, and then there're no consequences on the people who failed, and nobody learns lessons for the future. I don't know how to change this unless we restructure corporations which would have too many other issues. Even if we fight to get good people into management, they'd be fighting their own incentives, so it'd need to be a highly-sustained effort.
But maybe the core problem is broader, in the national mood. Too often, Americans fail to prepare for something that's completely foreseeable, until it actually shows up on top of them.
Also, you're right that the Pony Express never turned a profit... because they never got a federal mail contract. The Postmaster General was a Southerner, and he insisted on giving the contract to the Butterfield Stagecoach which ran along a southern route (and took much, much longer to do it). To his partial credit, the Postal Service had a longstanding practice of giving contracts to stagecoach lines or railways, so as to encourage broader transportation rather than just horses carrying only mail.
It really is amazing how government contracts can make or break a company, even way back then. In addition to airmail and airline companies, I'm reminded of the part of the perfectionists, which I reviewed a couple months back, where it talks about the government contract for repeating rifles and ho Eli Whitney totally defrauded the government over it.
Y'know, detailed and quote-filled appreciation is SO rare. It helps us savor life, and in many cases leads us to go to what is being appreciated.
And you practice it. Gratias tibi ago.
I got into the habit of reviews like this (which don't get as much interest as my easier to write posts, alas) because of people like Matt Lakeman, Jane Psmith, and Scott Alecander. If you enjoyed this you might like their book reviews too!