Leadership

When Comm is Not Enough

Citizen engagement operates with a lot of fancy titles like consumer education, consumer protection, client-centered services, outreach, or prevention and preparedness. In a prior life as an independent consultant, it was called community-based participatory research, and in my current role it is dubbed Community Engagement. (I must note, “citizen” explicitly denotes a legal status thatRead… Read more »

Meet the Defense Health Agency Head

Across the country healthcare systems are focused on ways to reduce variation in care, improve patient safety and more effectively use health information technology to improve clinical decision-making and outcomes. The Military Health System isn’t immune to such changes. In fact, within the military, there are additional imperatives for designing an integrated health system whichRead… Read more »

Building Trust With Your Team

You’ve probably heard that old saying, “people quit their bosses, not their jobs.” You may even have quit a job or two yourself because of a bad boss, so you know that one of the most important parts of being a good leader is to build trust with your team. They need to trust thatRead… Read more »

Raise Your Likeability

It’s been said that everyone can light up a room — some when they enter, and others when they leave. Which type of person are you? Likeable? Or not so much? Research has consistently proven that we are inclined to respond positively to people whom we like. That means we buy from those we like,Read… Read more »

Does Gov Need an Exit Strategy for Facebook?

You want every selfie and status update to get attention from your friends. But are all your friends seeing your posts? If they are, are you engaging them? Government organizations face this same challenge. Given Facebook and Twitter’s popularity in the last few years, federal, state and local organizations have worked to engage people onRead… Read more »

“Stat” Movement Turns Twenty

Harvard’s Bob Behn has been working on his latest book about the “-Stat” movement for more than a decade. I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release and told him I would read and share my impressions with others. In his inimitable response, he just asked that I spelled “Behn” and “PerformanceStat” correctly. Since 2001, Dr. BehnRead… Read more »

8 Books to Read This Summer

With mobile technology, 24/7 news coverage, Twitter, Facebook, Buzzfeed, iPhones, and other constant updates, sometimes we just need to stop and reflect. Take a breath. Really, take a breath. Sometimes you gain the most by slowing down and reading a good book. Holding something tangible in your hands to read shouldn’t be obsolete, but aRead… Read more »