Woman Code: Leadership 101

As woman in the workplace it’s hard not to let the double standards and stereotypes of women in power effect how you interact with co-workers and your approach to leadership. According to the Pew Research Center Report, Women and Leadership: Public Says Women are Equally Qualified, but Barriers Persist, the majority of Americans believes womenRead… Read more »

Write Your Resume like Your Obituary

What if leaders wrote their resumes like their obituaries? Would future employers know them better? Could they identify their dreams, energies and passions as well as skills, knowledge and abilities? Would employers know if these candidates? • Served others rather than being served. • Developed people rather than controlled people. • Tried to impact peopleRead… Read more »

5 Website Best Practices from the 2015 Center for Digital Government Award Winners

If you’ve ever worked on a website project, you know one of the first questions a designer asks is: What are your favorite websites? But, it’s not always easy to come up with a list of the best websites. Great websites have to be memorable, modern, unique, and free of frustrating glitches—no small feat for mostRead… Read more »

Feds All Over Social Media: A Final Roundup and Takeaways

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been talking about how federal agencies use social media platforms, and more specifically, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. There are a ton of other sites out there that speak to various groups of people or have particular uses. Because it’s important for government to reach its audience in theRead… Read more »

6 Essential Ways to Build Trust in Your Team

Have you said some version of these words recently? “I can’t trust him.” “My trust has been broken.” “We can’t put trust in them anymore.” These refrains are common and heartbreaking. In both its presence and absence, trust is a critical and yet also often elusive quality of effective working relationships. Being able to trustRead… Read more »

How Government Can Embrace the Sharing Economy

I recently attended the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) Annual Conference, at which the sharing economy was top of mind for many policymakers. While the sharing economy presents many opportunities, governments in Ontario and elsewhere have been slow to embrace it and adequately address the inevitable challenges. What is the sharing economy? Noah Zon, PracticeRead… Read more »

4 Things Football Teaches Us

September is in full swing and (American) football season is upon us! For diehard fans, summers are miserable. Journalists, talking heads, and the like are hard-pressed for on-the-field material. As such, trivial storylines ranging from practice scuffles to Tim Tebow abound. That will change this Thursday with the season opener between the New England PatriotsRead… Read more »

Are You Magnanimous? (That Means Forgiving)

President Abraham Lincoln cobbled together a coalition of moderate Republicans, radical Republicans, former Democrats, former Whigs and representatives of border-states to face America’s greatest challenge since the America slipped from Great Britain’s grasp. More precisely, he led our nation through a bloody civil war that killed more Americans than the total casualties from all theRead… Read more »

The Benefits of Well-Placed Idealism

I recently read a job announcement for a well-known local nonprofit organization that included the standard position description, responsibilities, skills, and personal attributes required. But it also included something atypical for a job description: the announcement listed that the candidate must possess the qualities of “passion, idealism, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed.”  Wow – whatRead… Read more »

Show Me the Motivation

In the iconic 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, the phrase “show me the money” became one of the most recognized phrases in movie history. Uttered by sports agent, Jerry Maguire (played by Tom Cruise) to his football player client, Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Goodling, Jr.) the phrase took on a life of its own asRead… Read more »