Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
For new federal cabinet nominees, so much to do in so little time
Public Sector | Leadership
January 15, 2021 – The average time between cabinet nomination and confirmation is about 40 days. And once appointed, most cabinet members spend less than four years in their roles.
To read the article, see “Navigating the first 100 days: Lessons from former US cabinet members,” January 14, 2021.
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Visual form
Dual-sided horizontal bar and timeline chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart is laid out as a mirrored two-sided table around a central list of cabinet positions. Read each row across from the left-side dotted nomination-to-confirmation measure, through the office name in the middle, to the right-side tenure bar in years.
What is being compared
The chart compares two timing measures for first-term confirmed US cabinet appointees: days between nomination and confirmation, and years in office once confirmed. It compares those measures across cabinet roles ordered by presidential succession.
Measurement system
The left side uses days, and the right side uses years. Exact figures are printed next to the dotted arrow markers on the left and inside or at the end of the bars on the right, with averages summarized at the bottom.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Each department gets one row, with a dotted horizontal arrow extending from the left margin toward the center and a solid blue horizontal bar extending rightward from the middle. The center column lists offices such as State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, and Education, and the chart ends with average figures of 37 days and 3.9 years.
Main takeaway from the visual
Cabinet nominees get very little time to prepare before confirmation and then often do not remain in office long, which compresses the window for leading a department. The contrast between the short left-side day counts and the still fairly short right-side tenure bars makes that pressure visible row after row.
Key standout values or extremes
Education has the shortest nomination-to-confirmation time at 27 days and the longest time in office at 5.7 years. Treasury has the longest confirmation wait at 47 days, Housing and Urban Development reaches 4.9 years in office, and Homeland Security is the shortest tenure at 2.6 years.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.