Michael Lawyer & Anthony Soriano – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bureaucracy

The description below has been selected as one of 12 finalists for the Next Generation of Government Training Summit Speaker Contest. To vote, simply sign in to your GovLoop account (Not a member yet? Sign up for free now!) and then click the big ‘Awesome’ button at the bottom of the post. Everyone is encouraged to vote for as many lightning speakers as they deem worthy, but only one vote is allowed per description per profile, so don’t forget to tell your friends to offer their support as well!

Personal Information: Michael Lawyer and Anthony Soriano, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Title: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bureaucracy

Description:

Michael and Anthony are the Co-founders of HUD’s Under 5 group. Under 5 began in 2011 as a group for HUD employees who had less than 5 years’ experience in HUD. The purpose of Under 5 was to allow the newer employees to network, share challenges they were facing within the department, and work together to create and implement solutions to those challenges.

Currently, Under 5 has over 220 members and is still growing. Their work is already transforming and improving HUD. In their first year, members of Under 5 have written the new departmental rotations policy, begun to staff the department’s innovation platform, and assisted in deploying a new enterprise social network.

The Co-founders of Under 5 should be chosen as a lightening speakers because they have successfully grown their small group of motivated and innovated individuals into a large, agency-wide “do-tank.” We will share how we have successfully engaged and activated so many HUD employees into improving and invigorating their agency. We will also discuss the importance of choosing the right challenges, learning how to pick a successful team to address those challenges and designing solutions that work with the existing bureaucracy.

Don’t forget to VOTE for this story by clicking the AWESOME BUTTON below.

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Check out the other finalists stories:

Andre J. Castillo – “The Making of a Government Ninja: The Story of How a 25-year-old new Federal Employee Created His Own Empire and Became ‘Famous’.“
Michael Gale – “Nature 3.0 – Using Technology to Connect People with Nature“
Michael C. Lawyer & Anthony Soriano – “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bureaucracy“
Joseph Linhart – “Rethinking the Federal Family“
Kerry O’Connor – “Lessons from an Unconventional Career – Follow Your Curiousity, Transform Your Skills and Become a 21st Century Government Innovator“
Emily Sadigh – “Put the “Action” in Your Action Plan“
Sabrina Segal – “I’m the Superhero of Information Sharing“
Teresa Shea – “A Journey Into Blindness: The Blind Professional“
Leonard Sipes – “Accomplishing Public Relations Goals Through Podcasting and Social Media: Demystifying the Process“
Tiffany Smith – “GovWhispering: How to Be an Effective Enterpreneur in a Bureaucratic Environment“
Mark Sullivan – “Working Together for Our Veterans“
Allison Wolff – “Failure is an Option“

P.S. Hope to see you at the NextGen Training Summit, 7/26-27. 500+ Gen X/Y govies, topics from workplace savviness to public speaking, speakers from OMB to Olympic medal winners.