After the relief of receiving her high school diploma in 1967, Carmi’s next thought was, “Now what?” Her friend said, “College,” so Carmi did that and four years later, with degree in hand, she thought, “Now what?” And then, “Work.” So, she did that, not knowing that every few years, when she sensed an invisibleRead… Read more »
In early February, I shared my alarm over the public’s apparent lack of trust in their public servants. As reported in a U.S. Conference of Mayors/Zogby Analytics national survey, people trusted small business owners and young persons fresh out of grad school, in that order, to guide them through the challenges of the 21st Century.Read… Read more »
We just completed the first step of our City strategic planning process for the next three years. Regardless of your status in the pecking order, if your organization has a strategic plan, someone is likely to ask you how you connect to it. This is a valid question. If your assignment obviously aligns with yourRead… Read more »
All of us have challenging public service environments, usually with more ups than downs and, hopefully, with a tolerable level of dramatic episodes. But every so often, we need to sort through some things. If you follow Midwest news, you know that a state elected official recently took his life. This happened in my homeRead… Read more »
When I was growing up, I’m sure my parents and most others who were working adults struggled with what we now call “work-life balance.” My dad had a full-time job and worked part-time on weekends. My grandmother worked in other people’s homes, and my mom worked outside the home, off-and-on, but mostly kept our home.Read… Read more »
I know several people who put a lot of stock in the power of coincidence. When conversations, articles and events line up like messengers, all with the same telegram, at your door, something is trying to get through. In my world, over the last few days, there’s been a great convergence of messages stamped: “Memory.”Read… Read more »
A few weeks ago I wrote about my memorable December 2014, when I saw some original, founding historical documents. While I was busy time traveling, our City IT staff was spending the Christmas holidays struggling with a very nasty gift from a very bad Santa. It has passed into our lore as the “Christmas DDoSRead… Read more »
This is not news so much as awakening. In the deep recesses of my public servant heart I knew…felt…denied that the day of reckoning was here. Yet, it has arrived in the form of “Cities of the 21st Century,” a report published last month by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Zogby Analytics. TheRead… Read more »
I want to give a shout-out to people who, over the last couple of months, have felt harried, desperate, confounded and fulfilled. These are the “statetographers,” my new word for people who facilitate the annual expression of a leader’s internal vision to a wider audience. Others might call you “speechwriters,” but your craft and callingRead… Read more »
The humble MS Word table has been there for me so many times.