Leadership

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 »

Culture is…? How to Create a High Performing Culture

According to our marketing partner –Preactive Marketing – the phrase “culture is…” generates roughly 20 million global hits. This indicates it is quite a popular topic and that people are interested in what culture is – and why having a high performance one is important. We’ll share our thoughts, though we also prefer to hearRead… Read more »

Campaigning for the future — Samuel Lovett takes on Rhode Island

It’s election season and like many American’s I am tired of all the nasty campaign ads splattered across my TV. Both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of slinging mud and focusing on non-issues. It gets so bad sometimes that its hard to focus on the real issues. But then you meet someone — someone likeRead… Read more »

RNC kicks off – tips for feds to stay out of the fray and can open data really help you do your job better?

On today’s program The Republican National Convention kicks off tonight — so what should feds be doing to stay out of the election crosshairs? Click here for the full recap. When we talk about open data we often talk about transparency. But the makers of OpenPlans says open government can also help you do yourRead… Read more »

Don’t micro-manage the bureaucracy

Shortly after entering domestic government for the first time in my life, I spoke to a former classmate of mine about how to make bureaucracies more effective. This classmate has one of the deepest and most intricate understandings of the Federal bureaucracy of anyone I have ever known, and likely will ever know. He recommendedRead… Read more »

Bankruptcy Warning Signs For NY Local Governments

Since 2010 seven municipalities nation wide have filed for bankruptcy. California has the largest number of municipalities filing for bankruptcy with three. According to several recent reports, many local governments in New York are in serious financial trouble. – Rochester used a one-time, $15 million in state aid to reduce its $40 million deficit thisRead… Read more »