We had a great performance management event last Friday, sponsored by the IDeA and the Local Authority Research Councils Initiative. There was a great line-up of speakers who covered everything from the academic theoretical side of performance management to the nuts and bolts of systems thinking to rubbish collection and disposal in Northern Ireland. ThisRead… Read more »
President-elect Barack Obama called his appointment of Nancy Killefer as the first chief performance officer “among the most important I will make.” The task ahead of her — as the nation’s first CPO and as a deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget — is daunting, considering the thousands of governmentRead… Read more »
The Web never ceases to surprise me. Here comes a list of 10 Best Jobs in America (and there is a list of 10 Worst jobs too!) published by Tony Lee on his site CareerCast.com by ranking 200 jobs based on five criteria of stress, physical demands, hiring outlook, compensation and work environment: 1. MathematicianRead… Read more »
I don’t know how much time Mark Stelzner’s blog post about bad apples stayed on the front page here, but it wasn’t long enough. I like two things about it: it addresses the impact a single maladjusted individual can have on group performance, and it invites readers to take a look at how their ownRead… Read more »
The Associated Press just broke a story about Obama wanting Dennis Blair, as the new and not-yet-announced-or-confirmed DNI, to take on a more streamlined office — and focus exclusively on giving strong direction to the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies. While the source for this story was anonymous (which is often the case), so here’s theRead… Read more »
The other day someone I follow on Twitter, @ConstructionPM, posted a link to an article written about the state of the current Municipal Bond Market. Normally, I suppose this would make for a dry read. But this article resonated with me. Bonding is important to me as an engineer, because I can’t build anything ifRead… Read more »
Most of us cannot wait to wash our hands of 2008 – It was a tumultuous, emotional, surprising and bitter year for so many. But scrub as we might, it’s going to be difficult to remove the stains of fear, uncertainty and doubt from our collective conscious. So perhaps it’s foolhardy to continue with theRead… Read more »
Stocks put in another typical holiday trading session on Friday as the major indices moved higher on very light volume. The TSP stock funds gained 0.5% to 1.2%, with all funds, including bonds, moving higher. The S&P 500 is still unable to climb above the overhead resistance and this would be a negative except thatRead… Read more »
(This is my first blog-esque post ever. So, sorry…) Remember that game Sharks And Minnows? Where one person was the shark and you had to swim with a group from one side of the pool to the other without getting tagged? Safety in numbers was the lesson then, especially because the game got progressively harderRead… Read more »
Good morning. It’s your Monday dose of TSP Talk’s market commentary. Stocks rallied sharply after the announcement of the auto bailout on Friday, as the Dow moved up about 200-points, but just like we saw after the financial bailout, the gains were quickly given back and the Dow finished down 25-points. The S&P 500 andRead… Read more »