Gen. Stanley McChrystal will retain his four-star rank when he retires from the military, the White House said Tuesday. The decision means the general will earn about $149,700 per year before taxes in military retirement pay. President Obama dismissed McChrystal last week after he and members of his staff made disparaging comments about Vice PresidentRead… Read more »
Step 4 of My Master Plan Begins
My organization doesn’t like change. I do. I’ve been taking a patient, low-key, phased approach to transform this organization. Each step I’m taking, I am probing for a path of least resistance. 2 steps forward, 1 step back. It’s constant probing for what is acceptable and what will be acceptable. If you are too radicalRead… Read more »
McChrystal, Guns and Rock n’ Roll: A Cautionary Tale of Off-the-Cuff and On-the-Record
When your mission is on the line there is no such thing as “off-the-record,” and “deep background” can be nothing more than a description of the harmonies on a Beach Boys album. If you want to play with leaks and don’t think you’ll get wet, hand in your gold stars and go to plumbing school.Read… Read more »
The Federal Coach: Even Landon Donovan plays for the team
The other night, I asked my eight-year-old son which U.S. soccer player he wants to be. The answer wasn’t surprising: Landon Donovan. It got me thinking. Secretly, we all want to be Landon Donovan. Whether in our personal or professional lives, we want credit for our hard work and the respect of our co-workers, friendsRead… Read more »
The why of social media
By now you know that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is heavily involved with social media. We tweet, blog, friend and follow. We have 10 blogs that received over 58,000 hits in the month of May. We have 26 agencies on Twitter, 10 agencies on YouTube and 7 on Flickr. We have toolkits that help agenciesRead… Read more »
Hours per week on Social Media
As you may remember, I started a survey in early June but, as often happens, I became busy with more projects than I should have signed up for at once. I guess we all have that failing at times. I wanted to share the early results with you based upon the responses by just overRead… Read more »
Summer Tele-vacation?
This weekend, the 4th of July holiday is upon us, and among the many traditions associated with this weekend- fireworks, barbeques, baseball – it is also quite common to see employees plan their vacations around this time of the year. With the kids out of school and a holiday weekend, there will be plenty ofRead… Read more »
Federal Eye: GAO: Some ‘burrowing’ during Bush Years
Democrats and Republican kick and scream during presidential transitions about the dangers of political appointees from the outgoing administration “burrowing” in to career agency positions, potentially derailing the well-laid plans of the new party in power. A Government Accountability Office set for release today found 139 political appointees did just that between May 2005 andRead… Read more »
Federal Eye: ‘Please Remove Your Shoes’ pans TSA, FAA
Many disgruntled workers file grievances with their union or write a letter to the editor, but a half dozen federal employees have turned to the big screen to raise concerns with the nation’s airport security. “Please Remove Your Shoes” uses the experiences of current and former employees of the Federal Air Marshals, Federal Aviation AdministrationRead… Read more »
The Final Hoop – ‘Team’ -sters needed
Just like basketball – or a union for that matter – jumping through the hoops of a Ph.D. requires a team. Yesterday was my birthday, and as I watched my facebook page fill up with comments from friends, family, students, colleagues, and surprisingly enough, high school friends who I found or found me after 20Read… Read more »