Friday Fab 5: Zen, Shakespeare, and Why Librarians Are the Secret Masters of the Universe

It’s been a busy week for many, but it’s time to kick off your shoes, relax, and enjoy the…

Friday Fab 5!

That wonderful time of the week when we take a look back at a few of the communities accomplishments.

The Most Commented Blog of the Week goes to Jolie Lee and her post entitled Who Has a Cool Job in Government? We know they’re out there, and Jolie does a great job at getting people to share their expertise. The Government at all levels is full of people doing awesome work, and not only is it awesome work, but it’s awesome work that people can be proud of. Suggestions so far include HazMat Managers, NPS Rangers, Vets helping Vets, and the all-powerful Librarians. Think your job is cooler than those? Add your job title to the list! Here’s part of the original call to action from Jolie, and then a great Librarian quote from commenter Wendy Reynolds.

Feds do some cool work, and their work deserves to be showcased.

I’m looking for suggestions for people/professions in the federal government you think would be good for the “Cool Jobs in Government” series. -Jolie Lee

Spider Robinson said it best : “Librarians are the secret masters of the universe. They control information. Don’t ever piss one off.” -Wendy Reynolds

The Top Forum this week goes to Andy K‘s wildly popular discussion regarding the professional networking site, LinkedIn. A simple question, “Is LinkedIn Blocked For You?” sparked almost 30 responses in just a couple of days. If that’s not a testament to how quickly and efficiently you can get a response here on GovLoop, I don’t know what is. Andy also asks, “How has LinkedIn been valuable to you in terms of advancing your career or connecting you with key people in your field of expertise?” So head on over and join the discussion!

The Most Active Group award this week could only go to the Culture Change and Open Government Group started by GovLoop Rockstar Bill Brantley. The call to join the group actually came from a blog post started by Bill earlier in the week (The Zen of Culture Change), and has grown tremendously fast in the subsequent days- essentially going from 0 to 54 members, 3 pages worth of wall comments, and 4 active group forums in a matter of days! Great work Bill, John Moore, and all others who had a hand in putting this group together!

Our Quote of the Week comes from Benjamin Strong‘s fun yet insightful blog post entitled Why Government Should Be Like Disney. In the Wonderful World of Disney, the customer experience is king. Everything internally and externally revolves around creating the ultimate experience in services and innovation. So why can’t Government be a contender for “the happiest place on earth?” Everyone could use a little fun and magic in their lives, and from a business perspective, it’s all in the execution. Benjamin explains:

Think about it. Disney is the happiest place on earth, where dreams come true. You can’t have your dreams come true of you can’t “cross the yellow line” or “no shirt, no shoes, no service”. Instead it’s “You’d enjoy the ride more with your shirt on” or “We just painted that room and would hate to see you get your shirt dirty, could you please come enjoy our stuff over here?” which is perfect.

And finally, Rockstar of the Week goes to Russell P. Petcoff. Russell has had two great blog posts this week (Are the White House Phones Rotary Dial? and Shakespeare Goes To the Moon Over Front-Page Headlines), and has continually delivered some great content to the GovLoop community. Not only that, but he has an awesome job title as well: Strategic Communications Writer for the Business Transformation Agency of the U.S. Air Force. And one final reason why Russell deserves our Rockstar of the week award is his response to the question who is your favorite public servant:

Anyone who works for the good of the American people and not for political parties, campaign donors or special interests.

So way to be awesome, Russell. Keep up the great service!

Thanks for reading, everyone. Happy Friday/Earth Day. Time to go plant some trees…

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