THE ONE "THING" A MANAGER CAN'T DELEGATE
(AND HOW WASHINGTON DC TURNED IT INTO PERFORMANCE ART)
For over five decades, I've been training managers, stamping the same cardinal rule into the soft clay of their executive brains: A manager can delegate everything but ultimate responsibility and accountability. It's the sacred law of organizational theory—the buck stops with you, Chief.
Or so we thought.
Watching the modern political machine in action, particularly during high-profile cabinet meetings, suggests that this fundamental law hasn't been repealed; it's simply been refined into a revolutionary new management principle: The Buck Stops Nowhere.
The Great Accountability Evaporation
In the business of governing, the President is the CEO, the Cabinet are the VPs, and the American people are the four-yearly Board of Directors. What we are currently witnessing is a masterclass in Accountability Evaporation, where the manager's ultimate, un-delegatable duty vanishes into the ether.
Take, for instance, the classic cabinet meeting, a place where economic reality goes to be lovingly reframed. According to one CNN fact-check summary, the CEO’s claims about a booming, affordable America were met with cold, hard data:
The Claim: Grocery prices are down.
The Reality Check: Grocery prices are actually up 2.7% year over year.
The Claim: We've stopped the inflation rate.
The Reality Check: The inflation rate is virtually the same as when the administration took office.
This isn't delegating a task; it’s delegating reality to an alternative facts division. And should a foreign policy issue (like a maritime "double tap") ever arise, the responsibility is instantly passed to 'the Democrats,' 'the media,' or perhaps an Admiral who, conveniently, wasn't even in the room. This level of buck-passing is so extreme it deserves its own HR award: The Golden Hot Potato.
The Unitary Executive: A Self-Congratulatory Loop
The truly dazzling organizational innovation, however, is the structural support system that enables this zero-accountability environment.
It starts with the Unitary Executive Theory (UET), which asserts the CEO has sole and plenary control over the entire executive branch. While the manager (President) is supposed to be accountable for executing the laws, this theory is now buttressed by a loyal Congressional majority that has effectively delegated its constitutional oversight duty, treating the CEO as an infallible demigod.
The system is perfected when the Supreme Court—the organization's ultimate quality assurance and governance body—passes the final buck back, increasingly signing off on the very UET that shields the CEO.
This creates the textbook organizational failure known as: The Circle Jerk Meeting.
As an organizational principle, a Circle Jerk Meeting is a situation in which a group of people engage in self-indulgent or self-gratifying behavior, especially by reinforcing each other's views or attitudes.
In Washington, it looks like this:
The Executive Branch congratulates itself for an imaginary economy.
The Congressional Majority reinforces the Executive’s genius by refusing to ask questions.
The Judicial Branch reinforces the power structure by validating the theory that makes the CEO unchallengeable.
It is a perfect, self-sealing organizational loop where every major pillar of government has successfully delegated its core responsibility to the next, leaving the CEO free to sleep through the next three years, utterly unbound by the chains of accountability.
The One Responsibility Left
So, if every major branch of government has delegated its constitutional responsibility to hold the CEO accountable, who’s left holding the bag?
The Board of Directors: The People.
The only non-delegatable responsibility that remains is the public's duty to conduct the final performance review. The Constitution offers only one iron-clad, non-controversial method for holding an elected CEO to account: The Ballot Box.
If you need a reason to vote in the midterm elections, forget the policy debates for a moment. Instead, think of it as a corporate governance matter. Your vote is the final, un-delegatable power you have to fire the management team that has perfected the art of the Accountability Evaporation and turned your government into the most expensive, self-indulgent Circle Jerk Meeting in organizational history.
The buck might not stop in Washington, but it sure starts with you.