Everybody Freeze: Total American wages dropped 3.2 percent in 2009

Pre-Governor Schwarzenegger prophetically takes us through the words of the day. Just something to think about for those expressing dissatisfaction over the pay freeze; according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (Shout out!), American wages actually dropped 3.2% in 2009. That would be the same 2009 in which we got a 3.9% COLA. This isRead… Read more »

South Africa improves addiction services

Behavioral Healthcare Issue Date: Online Exclusive South Africa improves addiction servicesThe government gets behind a national plan to vastly improve substance use treatment By Ron Manderscheid, PhD This is a story of achievement and success in a distant land. The key ingredients of quality improvement are all present—an overarching framework; focused political will by nationalRead… Read more »

2011 PMF In-Person Assessment: Open Thread

[Also posted here] Now that the 2011 Presidential Management Fellows semifinalists have been chosen and the PMF Program Office has posted the list, it’s time to think about the next hurdle, the in-person assessment. 1530 people (congratulations to you!) will convoke in four cities around the country between mid-January and late-February for a day-long assessmentRead… Read more »

GroupOn for Government

My brother recently inspired me with an idea: GroupOn for Government. GroupOn’s model works like this: GroupOn (or LivingSocial if you prefer), which markets your brand, gets a percentage of your sales if you sell over a set number of items. A Government GroupOn could work like this: GSA negotiates daily or week-long deals withRead… Read more »

The best moment in Canadian democracy in 2010?: the census debate

Over at Samara, my friend Alison Loat is asking people to answer the question “What was the best moment in Canadian democracy in 2010?” In what I think was a good decision, they’ve defined the terms pretty broadly, stating: The moment could be one that took place inside or outside of Parliament or other legislativeRead… Read more »

Innovation Leaders: What Makes Manor Tick?

With a population of less than 5,000 and a median household income of around $50,000, Manor, Texas, is an unlikely place to find the cutting edge of government e-participation technologies. But thanks to a young and enterprising Assistant City Manager (Dustin Haisler, now of Spigit), Manor has attracted significant investment from a variety of firmsRead… Read more »

The number one story in the GovCon space is….

Based on a govWin community poll, the following has been determined as the biggest GovCon story of 2010: GovCon Story of 2010: The Suspension of GTSI SummaryThough the cuts to Defense Department funding is a close second, the shock of GTSI’s suspension by the Small Business Administration from receiving new procurement work on October 1stRead… Read more »

December 17 Research and Best Practices e-Newsletter

Research Web 2.0 finds its payday (12/10/2010) – McKinsey survey of 3,249 executives finds companies using the Web intensively gain greater market share and higher margins. Majority of respondents using the Web say their companies enjoy measurable business benefits such as increased speed of access to knowledge, reduced communications costs, and increased customer satisfaction. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Strategic_Organization/The_rise_of_the_networked_enterprise_Web_20_finds_its_payday_2716?pagenum=2Read… Read more »