The Business of Government Hour

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.

Janet Vinzant Denhardt

Janet Vinzant Denhardt is Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. Her teaching and research interests lie primarily in organization theory and organizational behavior. Her book (with Lane Crothers), Street-Level Leadership: Discretion and Legitimacy in Front-Line Public Service, was recently published by the Georgetown University Press.

Ross Clayton

Dr. Ross Clayton’s professional experience includes eight years of federal service as a management analyst and as a member of Navy research and development project teams as well as more than 30 years as a university professor. His focus in his research and teaching has been on organizational and managerial analysis. Professor Clayton served on the faculties of the University of Southern California, the Federal Executive Institute, and the National Institute of Public Administration in Malaysia. He was the founding director of the California Leadership Institute

Richard F. Callahan, D.P.A.

Dr. Richard Callahan is an Associate Professor with the University of San Francisco’s School of Management. He teaches graduate degree courses in public administration in strategy, leadership, and governance. He has been funded for research projects on governance from the Haynes Foundation, Bedrosian Center on Governance, and has a Fulbright Specialist Program award for teaching leadership, institutional design, and governance in Istanbul, Turkey. Additionally, he works with universities in the states of Vera Cruz, Aguascalientes, and Yucatan, Mexico.

Ray Blunt

Ray focuses the “third half” of his life on helping to grow the next generation of servant leaders. He currently teaches philosophy and worldview at Ad Fontes Academy high school and is a Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture.

The New Federal Performance System

The President’s fiscal year 2014 budget was released last week and emphasizes the creation of “a culture of performance improvement.”  This is also the theme of a new  IBM Center report, by University of Wisconsin professor Donald Moynihan who is a close observer of the international performance movement.

A Call for Research into Key Challenges Facing Government

Last week, The IBM Center for The Business of Government released our most recent “Call for Research Proposals” – a guide to what key challenges faced by government will benefit from Center-sponsored reports in the next several years.  The Center solicits proposals that result in reports that have sound research, insightful findings, and actionable recommendations for government leaders and public managers in the following areas of interest – challenges that we consider to be six driver

Half Empty or Half Full?

A recent GAO report on the executive branch’s approach to new requirements in the Government Performance and Results Act recommends that “OMB improve the implementation of the act.” But a sub-theme in the report describes how agencies are actually building a long-term, solid foundation for a performance-driven government.

 

Leadership: It's a Personal Commitment (Part 2)

One former senior level political appointee, Linda Springer, recently observed that a common set of successful characteristics private sector – being decisive, directive, and a risk taker – could actually undermine success in the public sector.  So what works best in the public sector?

Here’s my list of seven characteristics I see as the foundation for a personal commitment to being an effective public sector leader. These characteristics hold true for effective managers, as well:

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