07/14/08 05:49 pm ET
My colleague Tom Shoop continues a debate in Government Executive's Fed Blog on just how tech savvy government's top leaders need to be. In his blog, he writes about John McCain's comments to The New York Times that he relies on his wife and two aides to surf the Internet for him. But he is "learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. . . . I don't expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need."
Last year, I wrote about Defense Department Secretary Robert Gates' description of himself as a "very low-tech person" and not using e-mail.
Shoop, who references the Gates' comments, too, wonders how leaders can make it through the day without using a computer. (Please check out his blog and comment.)
Last year, a reader, who had worked at the Pentagon, wondered the same thing after reading the blog item about Gates. In a posted comment, he (or she) wrote:
Recently I had a boss who didn't use e-mail either, whose calendar was booked full most days, and who was not readily available to discuss the day's issues. The result was he was out of the loop most of the time, he didn't know the pressing issues of the day, and he was rarely involved in decisions unless it was a very critical issue. No way to run a trillion-dollar operation in my opinion.
Ironically, the same commenter wrote that the "the smart [Pentagon leaders] that do use e-mail don't say much in them because they have learned that senators like McCain will subpoena them later."
COMMENTS
Blind people with middle-class incomes use computers routinely now. Acquiring new skills is precisely what McCain is asking from the American workforce at risk of losing their jobs. Computers are also one of the best ways to address government "inefficiencies". What happened to leading by example?
Frank 09/15/08 12:28 am ET
I think a basic understanding of information technology is a prerequisite to competent leadership in today's world. It is how a majority of any organization's vital communications occur. One can't pretend any more that it doesn't exist and one definitely must insure it's integrity and availability to succeed. How executives actually use it and budget their time is up to them and no different than how much time an executive in the fifties would spend on phone calls and meetings. By the way, as travel becomes more costly, digital communications is indeed a solution to cutting travel expenses and still getting equivalent work accomplished. I know the Old Guard hates that idea, but it's true. I really hate hearing about managers flying to another city for a two-hour meeting. With today's technology, that is just wrong. Just an opinion...
Phil 07/17/08 07:53 pm ET
Do we WANT the POTUS and SECDEF surfing the web? I think not.
FJ 07/15/08 10:16 am ET