The Policy Value of the Pause

From Don: I knew Alex Snider first as someone working at the White House to improve government services. In the early days of DOGE he contributed an excellent essay here on how federal employees were deciding whether to stay or go. He has since left the federal government, and written a book about his experiences.

Last year, Don invited me and other former public servants to speak to his University of Michigan students about a devilishly hard question: What do you do when your leadership is acting in ways that feel at odds with your values?

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On the surface it was about choices like when to leave the government, when to speak up, and how to pick your battles.

But looking back, I realize we were circling something more fundamental: how to navigate complex choices as we serve the public.

My new book, Sometimes You Should Be Late, which I wrote after leaving a 15-year career in government, has something to say about that question. It argues that one of the most important shifts we can make in our lives is to slow down, not for its own sake, but to help us better align our choices with our values.

Nowhere is that pause more important than in the high stakes world of public policy, especially in these disorienting times.

Government’s Bias Toward Speed

I laugh a little when people joke about government moving slowly. For every DMV sloth in a Pixar movie, there are countless public servants working with haste.

It makes sense: Many are drawn to public service to solve problems, seize windows of opportunity, and serve the people we swore an oath to. Those instincts are beautiful, but they can also become a trap.

I would know. Over my government career, first with the State Department, then in the Senate, and finally working on the President’s Management Agenda at the General Services Administration, I often equated speed with…