Get Off the Bench: Teamwork Touchdown
The key to advancing a task includes knowing how to work with diverse teams under deadline pressure.
An Inside View of President’s Meeting with SES
This guest post was written by Dan Chenok, executive director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government. This week, John Kamensky and I were privileged to attend the meeting of Senior Executives at the Washington Hilton, at which President Obama spoke as well as several agency heads. The event helped to frame whyRead… Read more »
Breached, Broached, Broke – Hacked in 2014
Breaches, breaches, breaches everywhere! 2014 will go down in the history books as the year of the mega data breach. Don’t believe me? Take this not-so-fun fact in November the United States Postal Service was breached and more than 2.9 million potential customers were impacted. To put that number in context, in the same yearRead… Read more »
Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus
Back in the late 1890s, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon was asked by his eight-year-old daughter, Virginia O’Hanlon whether Santa Claus really existed. According to the New York Times, O’Hanlon suggested she write to The Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her that “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” He unwittingly gaveRead… Read more »
The Secret Life of a Bureaucrat – Innovator
I don’t know about you, but I dread explaining my job to my family members back home. And with the holidays just a few weeks away, I know I am going to get asked, “You write about government employees all day? Why? They are just boring bureaucrats.” As I sit at the table, eating myRead… Read more »
Efficiency Implementors in 2014
As January 1 draws near, rankings and recaps of this year’s accomplishments will be published with fervor. You have probably already read innumerable lists that tout government achievements—things like building smarter cities, implementing novel technology, and finding new ways to engage citizens—in 2014. Understandably, big innovations receive big attention. Yet other accomplishments, particularly those where a traditional process isRead… Read more »
The Introvert’s Guide to Networking Events
Not all introverts are shy, and you certainly don’t have to be an introvert to hate speaking up in crowds – but if I tell you that I’d both rather be home reading and also get the cold sweats when I have to talk to people, you’ll probably wonder why I’m writing a post on networkingRead… Read more »
Are Government Workers Harder to Motivate?
Late last month, Robert Lavigna penned an article for the Harvard Business Review titled “Why Government Workers are Harder to Motivate.” And this is certainly a topic he’d know a lot about: Lavigna has a long history in government HR, having served as the director of the Wisconsin Civil Service System, at the GAO, andRead… Read more »
Leveraging Data from the Internet of Things
My dad loves his gadgets, especially when it comes to cooking. I couldn’t name half of the contraptions and devices he has bought that are now floating around the family kitchen. And each one seems to have a new electronic component, like his barbeque skewer that digitally conveys the temperature and other data about theRead… Read more »
Gold Stars for In-House Innovators
Companies small and large talk often about the need to be more innovative, but progress without reflection misses a crucial component of cultural innovation. That is, how often do these companies reward top people and their projects? The EPA Innovation Team has several goals: support innovative bench science in the laboratories, demonstrate the power ofRead… Read more »