leaders

Leadership: It's Both Lonely and a Team Sport

Submitted by on Thu, 01/25/2018 - 12:51

Leading Can Be Lonely.  Senior leaders can feel lonely when they have significant responsibilities and oftentimes little authority or control over a situation, and they have no one they can turn to.  I’ve seen several approaches to addressing this. 

Leadership in a Changing World

Submitted by on Thu, 01/25/2018 - 11:00

So this was an opportunity for me to reflect on my experiences and observations over my career.

Leadership can be a difficult topic about which to convey anything meaningful.  There is so much written about the topic and it either feels like conceptual theory or platitudes, or you wind up narrating personal war stories.  I’m no Tom Fox, who writes thoughtfully about this topic weekly for the Washington Post!

Celebrating and Elevating Senior Leaders as Key to a Successful Federal Workforce

Submitted by on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 21:53

This event, the first of its kind under the current Administration, brought together several thousand Federal leaders (primarily SES, but also other senior executive designations – this post will refer to the group as SES henceforth), joined by a cadre of supporters of good government. The grand ballroom at the Hilton was full, and the mood was positive as the attendees listened to remarks from a variety of perspectives.

Developing Managers Versus Leaders

Submitted by on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 20:33

The Government Accountability Office has released its updated list of high risk areas across the federal government. It flags for attention the mission-critical skills gap in jobs such as telecommunications, cybersecurity and acquisition. But there is also a growing gap in experienced managers and leaders as baby boomers head for retirement. What approaches are needed to ensure the next generation of managers and leaders are ready?

Strengthening Connective Links in Government

Submitted by on Thu, 01/18/2018 - 13:42

The evolution of technology tools and the use of social media has dramatically lowered the technical and bureaucratic barriers to working more collaboratively.  In the first days of his administration, President Obama publicly placed a premium on the use of collaboration.

How Customers Can Energize Your Employees

Submitted by on Fri, 12/29/2017 - 10:12
Adam Grant writes in the June 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review that research shows that customers themselves are “surprisingly effective in motivating people to work harder, smarter, and more productively.” I’ve seen this phenomenon at work in government, as well as in private industry.
 

I remember the story of a Virginia state trooper who visited the office in the state’s driver’s license bureau responsible for revoking the licens

Leadership, Change, and Public-Private Partnerships

Submitted by on Mon, 04/25/2016 - 09:42

This report continues the IBM Center’s long interest in leadership, transformation, and the use of innovative public-private partnerships. It explores how NASA leaders have leveraged public-private partnerships to replace the space shuttle, while developing new policy mechanisms to enable private companies to take over cargo and astronaut transport to the International Space Station (ISS). The author focuses on the evolution of this

A Leader’s Guide to Transformation

Submitted by on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 09:39

The publication of this report is particularly timely. The summer of 2011 was dominated by negotiations between Congress and the president concerning the deficit of the United States and the need to dramatically reduce federal spending in the decade ahead. There is little doubt that agencies across government will need to cut costs while maintaining, if not improving, the performance of their operations.