Government Can Teach Businesses - Just Not in the Way We Usually Think

By Larry Coté, Managing Director, Lean Advisors Inc.

Many entrepreneurs instinctively recoil at the idea of learning how to run their business from government. It’s understandable. Most business owners already struggle to see whether they receive full value for the taxes they pay, and they often view government operations as slow, bureaucratic, and inefficient.

But setting politics aside, there is value in looking at government as a case study. Government is, in many ways, a business. Its mandate mirrors that of the private sector: provide value to its customers — citizens — in a way that meets expectations for cost, quality, and timeliness.

What Government Has Tried — and Why It Hasn’t Worked

In its effort to make the country more efficient and competitive, government has leaned heavily on a familiar strategy: add more money and hire more people. This pattern has been repeated for decades and has become deeply embedded in the culture.

Yet the results speak for themselves:

• “Businesses rank being ‘stifled by red tape’ as a bigger threat than Trump tariffs.” – Simon Tuck, 2025
• “Canada didn’t become poorer than Alabama out of nowhere… We were the architects of our own demise.” – Sabrina Maddeaux, 2026
• “One in four Canadian employees works for government.” – Tristan Hopper, 2026

These headlines reflect a system that has not met its own expectations — or those of its customers.

The Silver Lining: Learning What Not to Do

There is tremendous value in studying failure, stagnation, or misalignment. Sometimes what not to do is as important as what to do.

Private businesses can learn from government’s experience:

• Adding staff and money does not guarantee improved performance.
• Growth without process improvement often leads to higher cost and lower competitiveness.
• Cultural habits, once entrenched, are difficult to change — and ignoring this reality can derail even well‑intentioned strategies.

Businesses share the same fundamental mandate as government: deliver products or services at a price customers are willing to pay, with the quality and speed they expect. The difference is that businesses cannot rely on taxation to cover inefficiency. They must adapt or fail.

The Takeaway for Business Leaders

Use government’s experience as evidence — both good and bad — to guide your next move. The long‑term track record is clear: a strategy focused solely on adding people and money does not work. It erodes competitiveness, slows decision‑making, and increases the risk of eventual failure.

The opportunity for private businesses is to learn from these lessons and choose a different path — one grounded in efficiency, value creation, and continuous improvement to maximize doing more with what you have.