What a Cabinet Secretary Actually Does

Most people picture a Cabinet Secretary as someone who sits at a long polished table, nods gravely at reports, and occasionally appears on television looking important. That picture is about 15% accurate. The other 85% is the relentless administrative, political, legal, financial, and human management work that happens before sunrise and after midnight. A Cabinet Secretary — known in some countries as a Minister, Secretary of State, or Permanent Secretary — is the chief executive of an entire government department. They answer to the head of state, to parliament or congress, to the public, and simultaneously to the staff under their charge. That is four different bosses with four different definitions of success.