Carl Sternberg, professor of public administration and government at the School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reviewed 246 stories summarized in the International City County Manager Associations News Briefings from April 2009 to April 2011. Sternberg’s review provides an interesting look at how governments across the country are dealing with reducedRead… Read more »
So I loath making this the first post of the new year, but here we go. Today Canada.com published a story “Tony Clement vows innovative new open government, but critics point to poor record.” In it, Jason Fekete the journalist responsible for the story, quotes a Democracy Watch spokesperson who sadly gets the facts completelyRead… Read more »
In September of 2011, President Obama issued a memorandum to reduce wasteful duplication in federal contracting. The memorandum was part of President Obama’s Campaign to Cut Waste. The memorandum requires that starting January 1, 2012, all agencies will submit their business cases to a White House database before opening any new contracts for bids. TheRead… Read more »
In the last post, we discussed some great educational opportunities for government employees you may not have heard of. In this post, we’ll talk about some lessons my classmates and I learned from the Advanced Management Program (AMP) class hosted by National Defense University (NDU). Top 5 Lessons Learned I’ve boiled down 14 tough butRead… Read more »
Have you ever come across an opportunity that had been hidden in plain sight? You know, the opportunity that had been available to you all along, you just didn’t notice it? I found two such outstanding opportunities around this time last year. The first is called the Advanced Management Program (AMP) and it’s hosted byRead… Read more »
This is a story of joined up government. This is a story of not very joined up government. It is quite a long story: there are well over a thousand words here, describing a bit of activity which took no more than a few minutes to do. There are no heroes in this story, butRead… Read more »
Continuing resolutions are a key part of the federal budget process. They allow for the government to continue to meet its obligations on a temporary basis when congress fails to pass a full budget measure. However, when the federal government relies solely on temporary budget measures as it has for quite awhile, programs without automaticRead… Read more »
While popular attention in cyber issues often focuses on the exotic APTs, enterprise security is being rocked by an unpleasant truth. Activist hackers have become a major problem, and not just for obvious targets such as the Church of Scientology or the United States government. Political risk company STRATFOR was recently hacked by elements ofRead… Read more »
In January elected officials are sworn into office to begin their terms as village board members on up to the highest public offices. New terms of office always start with such promise but many political leaders fail in their efforts. Eight years ago Sydney Finkelstein a professor of Management at the Tuck School of BusinessRead… Read more »
With the start of the New Year I find myself in a reflective mood. Being an effective leader in government, with all the challenges of these tumultuous times, demands a deeper sense of courage and personal integrity. Leaders will be challenged to authentically stay true to our core beliefs and values. Certainly the dynamics ofRead… Read more »