In the pages of management books and in the bottomless sea of online materials, there is no shortage of five-part frameworks and six-step plans for devising and executing organizational strategy. But Joshua J. Marcuse, Senior Advisor for Policy Innovation within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, has accomplished the feat of sifting through muchRead… Read more »
Don Clifton. Good ole Don. Oh Don. Don’t you just love Don? Just kidding. Until today, I had no idea who Don Clifton was. However, I’m pretty sure he changed my life and he might change yours, too. Don Clifton was a psychologist who asked a groundbreaking question in his field: “What will happen whenRead… Read more »
We all know what improv is. It’s a form of acting where actors create scenes and characters on the spot, generally inspired by one word or a simple phrase. But how does improv relate to what you do every day at work? And what lessons can you learn from improv as a government employee? One ofRead… Read more »
With four generations spanning our government workforce, many have asked- how can we level all generations and skills to build successful teams and make government better? Leaders in government, young and old, come from all walks of life. Government’s challenge is to harness the diverse skillset, listen to all perspectives, and help generations work together.Read… Read more »
“It’s ok to fall out of a tree.” “Maybe you shouldn’t climb that tree.” Henry De Sio broke the ice during today’s lunchtime keynote here at the 2015 NextGen Conference by bringing his two sons up on stage to share their leadership lessons. The boys were eager to share all of the info they’ve learnedRead… Read more »
When you think “tech + government,” do you automatically follow that up with… “= disaster”? Jay Austin, a presenter at Tuesday’s Next Generation of Government Summit, wants to change that perception to one of “tech + government can = awesome stuff.” Austin came to HUD as a Presidential Management Fellow in a not-so-long-ago time when InternetRead… Read more »
Government workers these days are facing mountains of stress. Limited resources. A 24-7 news cycle. Constant connectivity and all of its demands. A growing disconnect between public perception and needs and the reality of services. Stress manifests itself in a variety of ways — from illness to grumpiness to self-isolation — and too often itRead… Read more »
I’m white, Jewish and male. If I behaved like sociologists expect, most of my mentors would be “like” me. But I don’t. The lion’s share of my mentors are black, female and of a different faith than I. Though I’ve never personally been the subject of research on homophily —the tendency of individuals to associateRead… Read more »
Why are you a public servant? That’s the question we asked the thirty NextGen Public Service Awards finalists. Their responses were inspirational and show why they were nominated by their peers, for their dedication to improving and invigorating government. We compiled them into this video that we played for over 200 govies the last nightRead… Read more »
Everyone always tells you not to sweat the small stuff – but how do you know which of the 85,000 things on your to-do list are small? When everything on your to-do list is a Priority-Number-One-Code-Red-Emergency, it can be impossible to get anything done. Not to mention your stress levels will go through the roof! OnRead… Read more »