Civil unrest in places like Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore has local government leaders across the country concerned about police-community relations in their own cities and towns. While it’s true that larger cities with greater diversity – whether economic, ethnic, racial or religious – are more at risk, government leaders in cities of all sizes canRead… Read more »
Let’s start by admitting that, sometimes, all a reporter needs is a quote to finish a story. Any quote, as long it’s relevant and they meet their deadline. What they’d really like, however, are birds flying backwards. That’s the gist of a legendary quote used in one of my journalism classes, from a guy tellingRead… Read more »
When I was early in my career I discovered the catch-22 of gaining leadership experience: to be selected for a leadership position I needed to show I already had some previous leadership experience. So I had to get creative to break the cycle and get my feet wet. If you find yourself facing the same situation,Read… Read more »
Think about the last time you went through airport security. Or applied for federal benefits. Or paid your taxes. How did those experiences make you feel? What specific emotions did they invoke in you? Did you feel comforted, hopeful, and valued – or insulted, frustrated, and nervous? Questions like these are the most important thingsRead… Read more »
There are a ton of freely available articles, blogs, how to’s, and other publications about the benefits of good internship programs so why haven’t you started one yet? A need has been identified. In another blog post on Govloop.com Donna Dyer describes that 20% of interns graduating in 2014 wanted to intern in government. ThisRead… Read more »
This is a salute to my brethren from the liberal arts, but also anyone who has ever thought English composition class was useless. What is it about understanding how writing happens that is so boring even if writing itself is fun, especially if you have only 140 characters and are not bound by spelling orRead… Read more »
Last week, I wrote about how I go through my creative process, essentially how I get down to the nitty-gritty of how I write a story. When I started this job, I thought I’d just be blogging. Just like I do on any of my personal digital spaces. But instead, I’m doing some “digital storytelling.”Read… Read more »
In last week’s post, I discussed how three words at the beginning of Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby provide an important message for government leaders. (Bet you never thought you’d read that sentence.) In that post, we discussed creating a Stop Doing List. Now, I will outline a model to Collaborate. As government leaders, weRead… Read more »
Last week, I explored how federal agencies can use HR data to build predictive models to evaluate and reduce costly employee turnover. An article published in Business Insider this month described how HR software company Workday built an app to help employers do just that. Workday claims its software can not only predict who isRead… Read more »
Disasters can hit anyone at anytime and anywhere with little to no warning. They don’t discriminate by age, race, color or religion. Mother Nature has a one track mind when she decides to head your way. Depending on the disaster, you may have days to prepare or no warning at all. Although we can’t possiblyRead… Read more »