Four years ago, the IBM Center for The Business of Government released a book to guide new government executives, especially new political appointees. The goal of the book was to quickly acclimate new government executives to the world of public service as practiced in Washington, D.C.

Four years ago, the IBM Center for The Business of Government released a book to guide new government executives, especially new political appointees. The goal of the book was to quickly acclimate new government executives to the world of public service as practiced in Washington, D.C.

It is tempting to think of the Open Government community as an undifferentiated body.  I know I did until I attended a meeting of Open Government advocates, at which O'Reilly Media Washington correspondent Alex Howard turned an analytical eye on us and theorized that we're actually composed of many different pieces that are each integral to open government. His observation was that there are many constituencies within the broader open government community that often are working on very different problems, or sometimes the same problem from different perspectives.

For those who have answered the call to public service, there are many stakeholder groups you will encounter while in government. Understanding the relationship with each stakeholder will be useful in achieving your goals. This article focusing on taking the media seriously is adapted from a piece in getting it Done: A guide for government Executives (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2008).

Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.