In this issue of The Business of Government magazine, we survey the intersection where leadership, complex challenges, and the need for transformation meet.

Robert Reisner, an expert in government transformation, has culled these insights in his recent IBM Center report, A Leader’s Guide to Transformation: Developing a Playbook for Successful Change Initiatives. Based on these interviews, Reisner frames a series of interrelated steps that a government executive should consider when they undertake any transformation initiative.

Governments, generally, are much better at giving out money than they are at figuring out where the money is spent, and how successfully. Progress on this front has certainly been made by cities, counties, states and the federal government, but there’s still a long way to go.

“Abracadabra,” “hocus-pocus” and “presto-chango” are clichéd magic words designed to deliver a variety of wishes to boys and girls in books. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they have perverse effects. The lesson, typically, is to be careful of what you wish for.