A Pivotal Period for Afghanistan: Interview with Larry Sampler, assistant to the USAID Administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan

In advance of the Afghan Presidential election run-off scheduled for June 14, Larry Sampler, assistant to the USAID Administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan join me on The Business of Government to explore how USAID has sought to promote stability and order in Afghanistan and what is USAID’s three-fold transition strategy. The following is an excerptRead… Read more »

Leadership Gobbledygook – Enough Already!

Am I writing a bunch of leadership gobbledygook in my GovLoop blog? I had to stop and ask myself this question after reading a Harvard Business Review article entitled “The Trouble With Leadership Theories,” by Doug Sundheim. This short, but poignant article draws attention to the ways we toss leadership jargon, or as we sayRead… Read more »

Enhance Your Elevator Pitch

When was the last time you used your Elevator Pitch? The Elevator Pitch is your brief and concise marketing statement to promote you talents and business acumen. It clearly identifies your areas of expertise in 60 seconds or less. The best elevator pitch offers the opportunity to engage, inform and persuade a potential new clientRead… Read more »

In Celebration of Small Business Week

Have you ever thought about or actually started a small business? If your answer is yes, you’d be in very good company. The U. S. Small Business Administration’s definition of a small business is any business with fewer than 500 employees. Using that definition, according to the U.S. Census, by the end of 2013 thereRead… Read more »

Improving IT Security Through Implementing Sound Enterprise IT Governance

This article was originally posted on the IBM Center for the Business of Government Blog by Dan Chenok and John Lainhart. In the face of ever-increasing cybersecurity risks, significant attention is being paid toward improving preparedness and response of agencies, vulnerabilities and threats. throughout the public sector. Two ways to go about supporting these activitiesRead… Read more »

How A Former Navy Seal Started A Million-Dollar Business

According to Government Executive, the federal government lost more than 10,000 jobs last month. This downward spiral has been the case for the last two years. About 1,200 of the job losses were from my agency, USPS, because of attrition, while the rest of the combined federal agencies accounted for the rest. What does thisRead… Read more »

Best Practices for Top Leaders in Organizational Transformation

There are some common practices undertaken by leaders to ensure successful organizational transformation. We will share some of these from our many years experiencing different organizations in type, size and sector. In one instance the owners of a small family-owned manufacturing company embraced an entirely new concept of order taking and production. A team-based andRead… Read more »

Gather Stakeholder Inputs

Your organization consists of much more than just your employees and managers. Clients and customers, providers, contractors and others are also included in the role of “stakeholder.” When you’re ramping up for a transformation initiative, it’s important to gather the inputs from all stakeholders, not just those who are most obvious. Touch on topics likeRead… Read more »

Are You Ready for Analytics 3.0?

Analytics guru Thomas Davenport says that the field of strategic analytics has been upped a notch to “3.0” with the recent trend of shifting the use of analytic methods from improving internal operational efficiency to improving the operation of products and services. Dr. Thomas Davenport, in a recent Harvard Business Review article, says “Some ofRead… Read more »

Tough Decisions and Business Values

Because the issue recently came up, I thought I would offer a quick note about Business Values… When you are trying to write value statements for your company or nonprofit or team or community group, you can’t simply list a whole bunch of “nice things.” Those lists get posted on some web-page or coffee roomRead… Read more »

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