As the Presidential election heats up, I’ve noticed myself becoming increasingly drawn into a conversational topic that I try hard to avoid: politics. I highly encourage you to avoid it as well, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. If you do talk politics, make sure that it is out of the office first, and second, make sureRead… Read more »
Is it possible to get a waiver for a FAC-C level 2?
Our summer book club on Democratizing Deliberation comes to a close this week, with Harry Boyte’s chapter “Constructive Politics as Public Work: Organizing the Literature.” Like Harry, this week’s chapter leader, Wendy Willis, is an extraordinary leader in her own right — Wendy is Executive Director of the Policy Consensus Initiative and Deputy Director forRead… Read more »
This article is neither rebuttal nor follow-up of Cathryn Sloan’s “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25,” but an investigation into the question “are today’s young professionals different than those entering the workforce 20 years ago.” For the past decade, at least, Americans have been subject to variations of “40 is the newRead… Read more »
How do you get citizens to learn more about your agency? Photography. Lured by the promise of an open bar and the chance to wander the city taking pictures, I attended the GE Lights Photo Walk. Sponsored by GE and organized by iStrategyLabs, the idea was to have a couple drinks at a downtown barRead… Read more »
Did you ever get the feeling that actions are now requiring more meetings before they can start? Just a feeling I’m getting. That you keep getting stalled by “interested parties” that aren’t? Reminds me some career advice I got from a pretty good foreman many years ago. I said, “Hunh?” He said, “Hunh, hell. DoRead… Read more »
Friday, October 12th, 4:30-6:00 pm During the reception at this year’s conference, we’re excited to be holding a “D&D Showcase.” The Showcase is a high-energy activity that provides a way for about 25 people in our field to introduce their work and their ideas to the majority of conference participants. It’s a fun way forRead… Read more »
I just finished Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back by Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy which details new research in the question of how some systems recover from traumatic events. The concepts behind resilience are familiar to people who have studied complexity and systems theory. Basically, resilient systems have the following characteristics: Tight feedback loopsRead… Read more »
Dealing with the bureaucracy of government is frustrating for citizens and employees. What should be a simple task often takes months and involves multiple departments. Many government officials just accept backlogs and delays as the way things are done while others push for ways to improve how government operates. The Phoenix Arizona City Council recentlyRead… Read more »
“Everything here is negotiable…” Those are the words of a Washington Post reporter in a recent email to key sources for a coveted front page article. Included in the email was a working draft copy of the story. The news outlet Texas Observer obtained copies of the emails and broke the news…that is, the newsRead… Read more »