A little discomfort is okay, not brutalizing employees, but discomfort. You must have a vision, and you must move towards that vision with focus. A little chaos doesn t hurt anyone when you re making progress. But there s another factor at work that undoubtedly makes Goldin s style even harder to swallow for NASA employees. The administrator is under strict orders to downsize the NASA work force and infrastructure even as he tries to transform its mission.
People are afraid a rift is coming.
That s civil service jargon for a reduction in force, in other words, a big layoff. These people work at NASA s Lewis Research Center in Ohio. When they got together recently on a rainy evening for their annual union picnic, downsizing was on everyone s mind. Many we talked to said pressure from Goldin to act quickly led to bad decisions. I think Dan Goldin had several options, of which he availed himself of only one.