Words And Actions Make Leaders Great
Greatness is a perception by others. What makes a leader great is more than achieving the mission, goal, or results – greatness is also about how he or she got us there. It’s a complex set of factors not adequately described by a couple of words – but we can get in the general vicinityRead… Read more »
4 Steps to Building Trust in Your Federal Organization
“The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.” – Henry Stimson A recent survey concluded that trust in the workplace has declined over the past few years. Here’s what you can do to help reverse that trend in your organization: Be consistent. Eliminate discrepancies between what you say and what youRead… Read more »
Antelopes grazing in the open plan
Here’s another interesting talk on the office working environment, this time from Ben Hammersley. Ben talks about the impossibility of reaching the flow state necessary for any kind of thoughtful work in an environment of constant interruptions, and about the adrenaline levels needed to sustain vigilance against the predators of open plan. We have optimisedRead… Read more »
Reminder about tomorrow’s NCDD Confab on Rockefeller’s GATHER
Don’t forget to register for tomorrow’s confab call! From 2:00 to 3:00 pm Eastern on November 20th, we’ll be talking with Rob Garris and Noah Rimland Flower about the Rockefeller Foundation’s new publication GATHER: The Art & Science of Effective Convening. The Rockefeller Foundation and Monitor Institute released GATHER earlier this year as a freeRead… Read more »
Seven Coffeeneuring Trips in Washington, DC
Perfect cappuccino at Peregrine Espresso on Capitol Hill. When I first looked into the Coffeeneuring Challenge, I thought to myself: so many rules! You can tell it’s a contest created by a Washingtonian. But the strictures were good-natured and amusing, a Byzantine level of complexity that obscured a simple idea: Bike to seven coffee shopsRead… Read more »
Widening the Aperture of Acquisition & the Acquisition Team
By Mike Ipsaro PMP, CCE/A, Technical Director Today’s fiscally constrained environment is being felt in many places, including acquisition. The Federal Government spends billions to execute its missions through acquisitions. After talking with one of my colleagues about the impact on the acquisition discipline, she astutely said “though resources may be narrowing, the way youRead… Read more »
Three ways to maximize the value of your GSA Schedule contract
GSA Schedule contracts can be a huge asset to your organization. They have been described as a “license to hunt” with government agencies for up to 20 years (if renewals are executed), but once you earn the Schedule status – you need to be ready to do the hunting. The question many contractors ask afterRead… Read more »
SUCCESS RULE # 25 – Leverage Your Why
In Rule 24, we spoke about knowing your why, an important rule for success. To generate extraordinary success learn to leverage your why with massive amounts of pain. When asked, many people believe it is the desire for pleasure that motivates us, more money, beautiful home, phenomenal vacations. On the contrary. Certainly many people wouldRead… Read more »
Robert Hale: Pentagon Budget ‘Planning Gets Replaced by Planning’
Defense Department Comptroller Robert Hale said Thursday he is cautiously optimistic that lawmakers will reach an agreement to limit cuts to defense spending under sequestration, Defense One reported Friday. Hale told an audience at the Defense One Summit in Washington he believes budget uncertainty harms the military’s ability to address national security challenges, according toRead… Read more »