## Notes from 17 June 2025 [[2025-06-16|← Previous note]] ┃ [[2025-06-18|Next note →]] [[Gabe Menchaca]]’s [essay](https://www.niskanencenter.org/you-cant-fire-your-way-to-a-high-performing-government/) from the [[Niskanen Center]]’s State Capacity team is outstanding. It is clear and evidence-driven, and it is full of constructive proposals. Not only does it expose the perils of the Trump administration's proposed new Schedule F, but it also lays out practical ideas for reforming performance management in government. 1. **Management by fear fails** Drawing on nineteenth-century commissions and modern organizational research, he shows that threatening arbitrary dismissal silences staff, stifles innovation, and drags down performance - exactly the opposite of what a high-functioning civil service needs 2. **Cognitive AND demographic diversity matters** A healthy government requires a mix of training backgrounds, races, genders, political views, and professional experiences. (Brazil’s rigid “career” structure entrenches uniformity, discouraging debate and reinforcing a “corps” mentality) 3. **Concrete reform proposals** - **Empower managers** with real flexibility to allocate resources, reassign staff, and pilot new programs - **Differentiate performance** via fast, transparent mechanisms to reward top performers and address low-performers (including pay-for-performance pilots) - **Streamline misconduct investigations** by merging investigative bodies, speeding up procedures, and clarifying standards for what counts as unlawful resistance versus constructive dissent - **Clarify legal standards** so that removal for genuine misconduct (fraud, harassment, overt partisanship on duty) is distinct from protected policy debate Menchaca illustrates these points with concrete examples. This is a very interesting resource for anyone designing performance management or civil service reform systems.