Posts By Paul Wolf

Make Government Faster By Focusing On The Space Between Tasks

This is part 2 of my series on Ken Miller’s great book Extreme Government Makeover. In part 1 I explained how Miller describes government as a house where the important work goes on in the pipes hidden from public view behind walls. Miller’s position is that the problem with government is that it cannot meetRead… Read more »

10 Ways to Turnaround a Dysfunctional Team

Eric Jackson as a regular contributor to Forbes Magazine writes some very interesting management articles. In addition to writing for Forbes, Jackson is the Founder and Managing Member of Ironfire Capital LLC and he has completed his Ph.D. in the Management Department at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York, with aRead… Read more »

10 Ways To Turnaround A Dysfunctional Team

Eric Jackson as a regular contributor to Forbes Magazine writes some very interesting management articles. In addition to writing for Forbes, Jackson is the Founder and Managing Member of Ironfire Capital LLC and he has completed his Ph.D. in the Management Department at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York, with aRead… Read more »

Do You Have To Be Narcissistic To Be An Elected Official?

Don Hambrick Professor of Management at the Smeal College of Business at Penn State has studied how damaging Narcissistic CEOs can be to their companies. Hambrick defines a narcissist as someone showing the following four personality characteristics: (1) Exploitativeness/Entitlement –> I insist upon getting the respect that is due to me; (2) Leadership/Authority –> IRead… Read more »

Republicans Sit Here, Democrats Over There

The State of Connecticut utilizes a Representative Town Meeting process to make community decisions. Brantford Connecticut a town with a population of 29,000 residents, has 30 elected representatives that make town decisions. The seating arrangement for the Brantford Representative Town Meeting (RTM) currently consists of Democrats sitting on one side of the room (to theRead… Read more »

California Eliminating 400 Redevelopment Agencies

Last year the California State Legislature passed a law eliminating more than 400 redevelopment agencies statewide. Most of the $5 billion in property taxes that provided funding to those agencies will now be funneled to the state, counties and school districts. The elimination of redevelopment agencies statewide was proposed by Governor Jerry Brown. The CaliforniaRead… Read more »

Unions Competing With Private Sector Saves Chicago $1 Million

In an ongoing experiment to determine the best way of delivering recycling services, the City of Chicago has been divided into six zones, four of which are being serviced by private sector companies and two that are serviced by city employees. During the first quarter of competitive bidding, Chicago has saved $1 million (a 31%Read… Read more »