Leadership

HUD and VA team up to put an end to Veteran homelessness

Some have called it a “national disgrace,” the presence of thousands of homeless veterans on American streets and in shelters. In 2010 President Obama made a strong statement, saying that his administration would end homelessness by 2015. But how do you do that? The Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs teamed upRead… Read more »

Why Words Matter

Why Words Matter Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall. ― Jodi Picoult, Salem Falls If each of us, most particularly our political leaders, were to treat words as eggs, perhaps we wouldn’t feel as if we areRead… Read more »

Will you work for me?

Recently I’ve gotten a number of questions about what managers are looking for when they hire a new employee. I’ve found that I have a general theme in my answers that I want to share. I recruit employees and interns for other managers, and I also recruit new employees and interns to work under me.Read… Read more »

15 Lessons From IBM On How To Transform A City

IBM as a company has years of experience helping cities around the world improve how they deliver services. A white paper published by IBM titled “How to Transform a City: Lessons from the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge”, provides 15 lessons for leaders looking to transform how their cities operate: 1. Be Bold- Even Audacious– SetRead… Read more »

Jobs of the Future

When speaking with a current job-seeker, she said “while I was working, the working world changed!” This seasoned individual is finding her specific experience is not of interest to employers in today’s job market. With a dozen years in responsible internal analyst roles, what arcane experience and skills are being ignored by potential employers? SheRead… Read more »

The Death of Government Paper Records?

Last week, the President released a memorandum for Federal agencies to manage all permanent electronic records in an electronic format by the end of 2019, each agency due to develop and begin to implement their plans by the end of 2013. Following similar themes of open government and transparency, POTUS’s memorandum states that the objectivesRead… Read more »

Social Mentoring: From Telemachus to Telecommuters

This afternoon, I’m leading a webinar entitled “Using Social Learning to Mentor Agency Professionals” through an invitation from ASTD Government and The Public Manager. My slides are below. In brief, I suggest that mentoring involves three basic elements (and has since the word first appeared in Homer’s Odyssey): 1) Advice 2) Admonition 3) Assistance WhileRead… Read more »

How to be a Boss: Are You a Good Boss or a Bad Boss?

Sounds a little bit like the Wizard of Oz, we know. Similar to that classic story – what type of boss you are can determine if your people respond to you more like Munchkins or Monkey Soldiers. While we were writing this blog with our marketing partner, Preactive Marketing, we found something interesting while weRead… Read more »