Cloud based communication and collaboration services help you ease into the daunting world of cloud-based services by using the most mature product. These products offer rich features at a low price without the hassle of managing the infrastructure. The major players are Google Apps for Government and Microsoft Office 365. I have used both andRead… Read more »
Professional use of social media in the workplace is arguably one of the last taboo in public sector. Public Sector Organizations (PSOs) more than any other have a need, real or perceived, to control the message. Having dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of employees Tweeting away on behalf of the organization is no one’s ideaRead… Read more »
“It is easy to be solemn, it is so hard to be frivolous.” ― G.K. Chesterton One thing I have observed about people in information technology. We are WAY too serious. This is probably why people don’t like coming to meetings with us. That, and we have almost no fashion sense. We joke less, frownRead… Read more »
The second week of June is Email Week. To pay respect to my former “you’ve got mail” addiction, I’m focusing this week’s blog on email. I need to provide this caveat, any similarity to real person or real events is coincidental and for educational purposes only. Let’s begin. Imagine you are the sole survivor, theRead… Read more »
Having the option to age independently within one’s community is often presented as a healthy alternative to more traditional assisted living options (e.g. the World Health Organization, AARP). In this option, community refers to more than one’s home. It refers to the built environment around us and individual and collective person environment fit. But howRead… Read more »
How do you get in on the ground floor of big data? Programming? Statistics? Research experience? Last week I questioned the idea of leaving behind our traditional models of data analysis in favor of big data. Much like being the last kid in your grade school class to get the famed New Kids on theRead… Read more »
When I talk to my colleagues in the federal government, there seems to be a common theme around leadership or lack thereof. We seem to think that there has been a decline in the effectiveness of those in leadership positions. Many people in leadership positions have not demonstrated that they are sufficiently prepared for theRead… Read more »
Am I writing a bunch of leadership gobbledygook in my GovLoop blog? I had to stop and ask myself this question after reading a Harvard Business Review article entitled “The Trouble With Leadership Theories,” by Doug Sundheim. This short, but poignant article draws attention to the ways we toss leadership jargon, or as we sayRead… Read more »
That’s me pictured above with my parents and Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. It was a Saturday morning about 20 years ago following a Presidential radio address. The “Blue Pass” I’m wearing allowed me unfettered access to the West Wing, including the White House Briefing Room where I assisted dozens of reporters. This isRead… Read more »
You’ve been working for a few years, and you decide to get an advanced degree—for new knowledge or for a needed credential. How do you choose? In the past few years, universities have started lots of new master’s degrees—from “human-computer interaction” to “public history” to “law enforcement management”—many with direct connections to employers, such asRead… Read more »