GovLoop Goes to Rural Michigan

So I gave a talk last week in Rural Michigan (Marlett) regarding the GovLoop story. It was a fun talk and I was one of a range of speakers from the #1 Outdoor TV host to local valedictorians.

These were my observations:

-Do your passion – the TV host actually spent a number of years bouncing around and found his passion. Connecting the outdoors to an audience. He said multiple times that you have to follow your passion.

-Don’t be scared – I talked to an owner of a 10 person consultancy. He said staff were occasionally scared to take a new project where they did not know everything right away. He said that the key was they were smart and had great problem-solving skills and that’s what he emphasized and they always did really well.

-People equate government to politics – Some of the questions I got were explicitly related to politics and policy. People forget about the day-to-day workers and most of what they hear about gov’t is the politics.

-People can be proud of gov’t – When I started talking about the great things government was doing, many told me they were very impressed. And how they hadn’t thought about how tough the issues were and were impressed by the creative solutions

-A different type of smart – There are many types of intelligence. Some is typical and looks good in a smart suit and at a fancy meeting. But others like the owner of the biggest gun shop in a 5-state area look and sound real humble and normal. They address complex problems and make them simple. And focus on simple truths – hard work, good products, good customer service