Everyone knows it, but no one wants to say it out loud: DoD onboarding sucks.
You get through the hiring gauntlet—a process I’ve written about before—and once you make it through the interviews, paperwork, and security screenings, you show up… only to wait. You wait for access. You wait for a laptop. You wait for clarity on what you’re even supposed to be doing.
I’ve worked at the Department of Defense, Amazon, and Redfin. I’ve seen how different organizations treat the first few days, weeks, and months of a new hire’s experience. At DoD, we too often forget that onboarding isn’t just a logistical task—it’s a readiness issue. If we want people to move fast and deliver outcomes, we need to give them the tools and the trust to start doing that on Day 1.
We tried to do things differently at the Defense Digital Service (DDS). We used Macs. We used Gmail. We used Slack. The goal was to meet new hires where they were—using tools familiar to folks coming out of tech. It was a smart intent: minimize the learning curve, remove the unnecessary friction. But even with all that, I still found myself completely stuck trying to navigate militarycac.com/macnotes.htm. Anyone who’s ever tried to use a CAC with a Mac in DoD knows exactly what I’m talking about—the endless driver installs, the weird pop-ups, the arcane browser settings. It was maddening.
We came in believing. We left in silence.
Government layoffs don’t just cut budgets—they cut belief. Talented, mission-driven professionals - some who left lucrative private-sector careers, others tracking life-long roads of public service - to serve are now being pushed out of the very institutions they fought to improve. These weren’t side projects or token hires. They were seasoned professionals, some with decades of experience, brought in to modernize critical systems, close digital equity gaps, and help rebuild trust in institutions that have too often failed the people they serve. When we lay them off, it sends a clear message: innovation is expendable. And people feel it.
The Minority Table: Race, Upbringing, and the Bias We Build Into the Future
In high school, I remember sitting at the back of the refectory at Lakeside during lunch—what we all quietly called the “minority table.” There wasn’t a sign, and no one assigned us seats. But still, somehow, we ended up there. Black, Asian, Latino—it didn’t matter where exactly you came from, just that you weren’t part of the majority. It wasn’t enforced. It was inherited.
Bringing a P&L Mindset to the Mission: Lessons for DoD Leaders from Industry
In a recent interview, I was asked about my experience managing Profit and Loss (P&L) statements. It was a familiar question from my time in the private sector—but it made me pause. Not because I lacked the experience, but because the P&L isn’t a standard tool in the Department of Defense. That got me thinking: How can a leader from industry transition into the DoD and still apply the same drivers that a P&L would sharpen in a commercial context?