Yearly Archives: 2012

Federal Conference on Diversity: Real commitment is key for change

Why are we still asking the same questions and exploring the same issues? What needs to be different? This is how Sharon Fitzpatrick opened her discussion, “Diversity and Inclusion”, during today’s Federal Conference on Diversity. “We have the wrong conversations about the right things – lack of commitment, unwillingness for change, lack of resources,” sheRead… Read more »

Customer Service Bill Is Resurrected

Will feds soon be asking their customers if they are satisfied with the service they’ve received? Following the customer service initiatives launched by Gore’s reinventing government team in the 1990s, the federal government has waxed and waned on the importance of customer service in the course of serving the public. With citizen satisfaction with governmentRead… Read more »

DHS CPO talks Acquisition Challenges and we answer Your career questions with Frank DiGiammarino

DHS CPO talks acquisition challenges and we answer your career questions with Frank DiGiammarino by GovLoop Insights On today’s program for Wednesday April 25th, 2012: Riding the procurement wave— and dealing with tight economic times with DHS top procurement official — Nick Nayak. Frank DiGiammarino answers your career questions. Are you ready? It’s just 195Read… Read more »

Daily Dose: Would More Female Agents have Discouraged Cartagena Shenanigans?

Can a lack of workforce diversity lead to on-the-job shenanigans? That’s the question the Washington Post asked in regards to the Secret Service prostitution scandal, and how few women are employed as special agents. Only 11% of special agents are women; some Congresswomen think this lack of diversity could have contributed to the poor decisionsRead… Read more »

Planning for Councillors

A nice little project this, that we developed for our friends at NALC. It’s a site introducing some of the issues around planning, particularly aimed at parish councillors. We did the design and built the WordPress template, while the guys at NALC provided the content for us to build the pages. The purpose of theRead… Read more »

A Question About Questions

When you ask a question, are you trying to change your understanding…or theirs? Teaching by asking questions can cause learning breakthroughs. Too often I see people trying to manipulate others, which can backfire spectacularly. I ask a lot of questions because I genuinely want a better understanding, not for the other person, for me. RecentlyRead… Read more »

The Art of Influence – Free eBook

What do all of these people have in common? Albert Einstein Mohandas K. Gandhi Bill Gates Micheal Jackson Martin Luther King, Jr. Oprah Winfrey Influence. “The ability to affect others – seen only in its effect – without the exertion of force or formal authority.” Each one of these individuals knew how to harness theRead… Read more »

From the Frontlines of Federal Procurement — We talk biggest challenges with DHS’s Nick Nayak

Federal procurement has seen a lot of changes since its inception back in the 1940s. Right now federal contracting does more than $500 billion dollars annually. 19 of those billion dollars are from the Department of Homeland Security. Nick Nayak is the Chief Procurement Officer at DHS. He joined Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER programRead… Read more »

Success Factors In Federal Business Development

How hard can it be to do federal business development? All you need is to be good with people and a willingness to talk to decision makers, right? If it were so easy, why for years has BD been given a bad name, and why have many companies struggled to hire business developers who produceRead… Read more »