What We Keep, What We Leave Behind
I read about Bari Weiss, CEO of CBS News, telling staff to “think like a startup” and found myself contemplating R Street. How we’ve evolved, where we’re going, what we’re becoming.
R Street and CBS News are, obviously, completely different operations. While Weiss is navigating important reinvention, we’re a think tank that’s already done the hard work of figuring out who we are together. But the broader question still applies: when the world changes, do you loosen your grip on how you work, or tighten it?
We’re choosing to tighten it deliberately, innovating from a position of cultural clarity rather than searching for it. Externally, we advocate for free markets and limited, effective government: the belief that institutions matter and sustainable systems create freedom. Those same principles guide how we work internally.
R Street’s culture has evolved through three phases: “get it done” (scrappy, make it up as we go), “get the right things done” (coordination and looking ahead), to where we are now. We have a strong foundation built on credibility and independence that allows us to leverage expertise and focus effort on what clearly advances our mission.
One of the strange gifts of getting older is recognizing that maturity means being deliberate with your agility. Startups are still figuring out who they are. We’ve already done that work. Yet there are parts of startup culture absolutely worth protecting.
R Street prides itself on a learning mindset, where we try, succeed, or fail, and learn and iterate without insistence on being right the first time. I never want us to lose that. We want people who share our commitment to the mission and who bring genuinely different perspectives to the work. Diversity within alignment is what keeps our thinking honest. We’re building for people who want this. We change and evolve because of the people who join us.
But there are parts we’ve purposefully left behind: approaches that don’t align with our values or can’t scale. We’ve rejected the “hero model” where going it alone replaces sustainable systems. We’ve said no to speed without direction when stakes are high and coordination matters. At R Street, we want velocity: speed with direction.
As we’ve matured as an organization, we have clearer expectations, institutional knowledge that prevents repeated mistakes, and stability for deeper, sustained work. That maturity also builds external credibility in a moment when institutional trust matters more than ever.
Our model is built on a straightforward belief: the best policy outcomes come from combining expertise across research, communications, government affairs, strategy, and operations. Simply put, you have to have the right people in the room, bringing their best to the same problem. It requires genuine collaboration and trust in others’ judgment–something R Street has worked hard to cultivate among staff.
At a time when trust in institutions is low, and there’s demand for credible, principled voices, our cultural clarity is an asset. Institutions matter. Sustainable systems matter more than individual heroics. Clear norms matter more than making it up as we go. Our cultural clarity is exactly what enables us to adapt without losing our way.
When Weiss told CBS employees, “I completely respect if you decide this is just not the right place at the right time for you,” some might have seen that as indifferent. At R Street, we have learned that this is an important leadership principle. Clarity is kinder than ambiguity. It’s good for the organization and good for our people.
We know who we are, and that clarity lets us do our best work. I look around at the people who built this, who are still building it, and I’m proud of where we’ve landed. Being grounded in who we are is what frees us to keep evolving how we work.
Chad Russell, Vice President, Operations
In case you missed it:
Matt Germer, Governance Policy Program director, wrote an analysis of the new SAVE America Act (H.R. 7296): The SAVE America Act Gets the “What” Right but the “How” Wrong
Logan Seacrest, resident fellow for the Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties Program, wrote about the latest advances in AI technology as it’s used in law enforcement: Unlocking the Full Potential of Body Cameras with Artificial Intelligence
Adam Thierer, resident senior fellow for the Technology and Innovation Program, wrote an op-ed for Governing Magazine on AI regulation and the states: States Should Stop Trying to Regulate AI Pricing