Government Executive - Authors - Bryan Klopack

The 7 Do’s and Don’ts of Transition

Bryan Klopack — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 06:00:00 -0500

Subscribe:

Election’s over…now what? It's time for the transition.

With the election in the rearview mirror, you know as well as I do that the fun is only just beginning. The federal government’s obligatory ritual is upon us and with less than eighty days to prepare, a lot of change is underway as we enter President Obama's second term.

We will be speaking with the experts on administration transitions to find key lessons learned to help you navigate the weeks and months ahead. Keep an eye out for our ongoing coverage – but in the meantime, check out video from our conference in September. Patricia McGinnis, former President and CEO of the Council for Excellence in Government and current professor of practice at The George Washington University moderated a panel discussion entitled, “Strategies for Navigating Transition: What to Expect After the Election,” featuring:

Hon Clay Johnson III, Former Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget, 2003-2008
RADM John Acton, Executive Director, Leader Development, Department of Homeland Security
Lisa Brown, Acting Chief Performance Officer, Office of Management and Budget

During the 2008 transition, the Partnership for Public Service presented some Do’s and Don’ts for Department of Education officials seeking guidance as the new administration took office. Here is what they had to say:

The Seven “Don’ts,” or, How Not to Survive:

Start with, “That’s not going to work because…”
Be a “yes” man or woman
Criticize the former political team
Be ready to tell the new team what they need to do
Hide potential problems (not bad news)
Wait out any changes with which you disagree
Assume all your assumptions about the new team are correct

The Seven “Do’s,” or How to Thrive:

Learn about any new priorities, goals, etc.
Be open to and ready for change – listen first
Be honest about problems or “landmines”
Anticipate questions and have constructive answers
Develop suggestions to address external criticisms
Assume the best until proven wrong
Focus on the desired end result/outcome and work backward to figure out how best to get there

Read more about surviving transition here.

What tips do you have for navigating during periods of transition?

(Image via Tom Grundy/Shutterstock.com)

]]>

Risk and Reward

Bryan Klopack, Excellence in Government — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:00:00 -0400

When Dr. Lynne Mofenson came to the National Institutes of Health in 1989, there were more than 2,000 new pediatric AIDS cases a year reported in the United States. That number is now less than 100 per year. Creating an AIDS-free generation has become a national goal, and Mofenson’s seminal work has helped to almost eliminate the transmission of the HIV virus from mother to child in the United States.

Mofenson, chief of the Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal AIDS branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, was named the 2012 Federal Employee of the Year for her role in a bold and controversial clinical trial that used AZT to prevent pregnant mothers from passing HIV to their babies.

The clinical trial was the beginning of a long-term collaboration among researchers—called the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group—that conducted a series of successful studies to identify and optimize strategies to block mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the primary way children become infected.

Despite the risks, Mofenson says launching the study was “a no-brainer.”

“It was a horrible disease, killing mothers and babies. We had to do something,” she says.

The clinical trial demonstrated a two-thirds reduction in the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child, down from 25 percent to 8 percent, turning the tide on pediatric AIDS. “We were quite amazed that it worked so well,” says Mofenson, who received her Service to America medal from the Partnership for Public Service. Through U.S. programming and funding to other countries, it is estimated that 200,000 infant HIV infections were prevented last year.

]]>

Should We Abolish All Agency Goals?

Bryan Klopack — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:32:00 -0400

“Words do not label things already there. Words are like the knife of the carver; they free the idea, the thing from the general formlessness of the outside. As a man speaks, not only his language is in a state of birth, but also the very thing about what he is talking.” Inuit quote – Parabola.

Language is important – the presidential debates have made that clear. The words we choose have the power to influence others—but, more importantly, they influence how we see ourselves and our place in this world.

When is the last time you discussed goals with your supervisor? Or explained the importance of agency-wide goals to your staff? Or received a new scorecard with fresh goals from OMB? Well…what is a goal? A goal is external to you – it is something to aspire to; something to align strategy against and work towards in hopes of getting to green. What if we removed “goals” from agency vocabulary?

Let’s replace “goals” with “commitments.”

Goals vs. Commitments

Commitments are more internal. When you commit, you are at stake – and that holds greater power than “goal.” Try it. Instead of having a goal to reduce fossil fuel emissions, you are committed to do so. Your team is now committed to consolidating three more data centers by FY2014. Not only does this re-contextualize the goal in your mind, but it clearly communicates your intent to others. Keep in mind, commitments are powerful and should be created with great care. In creating group commitments:

Be clear and specific
Generate individual commitments that can be fulfilled within the group commitments
Monitor progress and support one another
Always act from a place of commitment

As you contemplate the distinction between goals and commitments, consider this quote from Scottish writer W.H. Murray:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

So, I challenge you to shift goals to commitments this week – and see what happens.

(Image via Sam72/Shutterstock.com)

]]>

What is Innovation in Government?

Bryan Klopack — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:46:00 -0400

Where does public sector innovation come from? What does it look like? Is it a way of thinking reserved exclusively for the SES and political appointees—or does it come from the ground up? Many emerging practices show it comes from both – and everyone in between.

I attended an event at The George Washington University last week to hear from top agency officials and leading thinkers on the need for innovation. What I heard was a lot of focus on starting from the top – either through goal-setting or organizational realignments. However, not to be ignored are efforts to crowdsource innovation from those in the trenches. Which strategies are most effective and how can agency leaders spur innovation?

Set big fat hairy goals.

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade,” John F. Kennedy said in 1961. Not because it would be easy, he continued, but because it would be hard. With that, he set the mother of all stretch goals—goals that may seem impossible but force you to reach for the stars and at least come close. In the case of Kennedy, stretch goals worked. Apollo 11 touched down on July 20, 1969 – a huge feat for NASA, the federal government, and the American people.

The Obama Administration employed a similar, more localized, strategy by requiring the 24 major agencies to set about five goals that could be achieved within two years and within budget. The intent was to think big. Shelley Metzenbaum, associate director for performance and personal management at the Office of Management and Budget, said, “The evidence from the private and public sector is that stretch goals make a huge difference.” While many agencies did find great success and, reportedly, increased morale and energy around attaining these feats, top agency leadership was responsible for setting goals and holding managers accountable. Many civil servants who were engaged in the details around setting these goals—but visionary leadership at the top made the difference.

Create an environment that fosters collaboration.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg famously knocked down barriers to collaboration, literally, by pulling his deputy mayors and top aides out of their offices and into a large bullpen of cubicles. With the goal of fostering communication, transparency, and cooperation across agencies and departments, this wide-open space of what appears to be chaos, has spurred innovation and effective team building within the city’s complicated bureaucracy.

This took New York chutzpa and open-minded leadership. GSA has taken a similar approach – started by former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson, and continued today by current administrator, Dan Tangherlini.

Innovate…1, 2, 3, GO!

The GSA’s competitions to crowdsource innovative ideas through programs like the Great Ideas Hunt and Challenge.gov created highly publicized platforms for generating great ideas. GSA says it will save over $5 Million through the implementation of just five employee generated ideas. The “groundbreaking” ideas include defaulting printer settings to double-sided and reducing magazine subscriptions. What I love about these is that they’re not big, sexy ideas. They’re practical tactics that can only be generated from employees in the thick of operations. Innovation doesn’t need to be sexy – or come from a seasoned SES – to provide immense value to the taxpayer.

But can innovation come spontaneously from the ground-up? What about feds who work at agencies that don’t have innovation competitions, big goals or collaborative work environments? What about the stifled GS-10 without office or organizational leadership that champions innovation? How do you break an office out of a check-the-box mentality where being simply being compliant is the mark of a job well done? We hear time and again from our readers that they do not feel encouraged to try new processes or that they don’t have permission to fail. So I believe the real challenge is – how do we create a culture in federal agencies that demands innovation from the ground-up?

Tangherlini and Metzenbaum have made great strides toward shifting the public sector paradigm within their spheres of influence. But every agency is different and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. We need more champions at all levels to require new value and new ideas in delivery, process and output. Today’s environment demands it.]]>

What You Missed at Excellence in Government

Bryan Klopack — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:00:00 -0400

Leadership, Performance, Transition…did you miss the memo?

The real story behind landing on Mars. Insiders’ guide to the budget battle. Lessons on applying innovation in your agency. Did you miss Excellence in Government Fall 2012? Then you missed a lot…

This past September we hosted the annual Excellence in Government Fall Conference in Washington, D.C. We received a record number of registrants – so many, that we had a wait list a mile long. That said, to share learning from the event with those unable to attend, our team has worked hard to bring the same session content, keynote speeches, and behind-the-scenes speaker interviews to our readers across the country via Excellence in Government Broadcast.

Click here to access an extraordinary library of videos covering management strategies, best practices and cast studies covering:

Innovation and Change Management
People Management
Performance and Efficiency
Leadership in Complex and Uncertain Times

Register for free to watch all the speakers and panels at the event. If you’re looking to connect with Excellence in Government in other ways, follow us on Twitter | Facebook | Google + | LinkedIn

]]>

It's Easy to Pretend Government Doesn't Matter

Bryan Klopack and Mark Micheli — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:13:00 -0400

Gautam Mukunda, author of Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter, recently told Excellence in Government that critics of government employees have forgotten what life was like before government regulations made life simpler.

“It’s a shame that [government employees] are being vilified because the people who are doing that, at a basic level fail, to understand the extent to which the activities of the government—especially the federal government—undergird every part of the day-to-day life of the United States,” said Mukunda.

From Mars Curiosity and military families to the inspectors at the Food and Drug Administration, Mukunda said that those who broadly criticize government services are being shortsighted.

“It is easy to pretend that these things happen without organization precisely because the people in our government do those jobs so well that the people who make these critiques do not even know what a world where these jobs are not being done would be like,” said Mukunda. “They have forgotten what the world was like because these institutions existed to make their lives smooth.”

Mukunda advised federal employees feeling discouraged by negative media attention to take joy in their jobs and not worry about what others think. Happiness comes from doing your job and doing it well, he said.

“What [government employees] can take away from the book and the message as a whole is that a job worth doing done well is rewarding whatever other people think of you,” said Mukunda. “There’s a difference between honor and reputation. Reputation is what other people think of you and honor is what you know about yourself. To do your job well is to do it honorably and at the end of the day that’s all you can ask for.”

Watch Mukunda’s full interview:

Register for free at Excellence in Government Broadcast to see Mukunda’s keynote about the leadership lessons we can all learn from past U.S. presidents.

Follow Excellence in Government on Twitter | Facebook | Google + | LinkedIn

]]>

What is All This Talk About Innovation?

Bryan Klopack — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:05:00 -0400

Innovation. What is it? How is it measured? Can you plan it or is it organic? These are questions that consultants and leadership coaches have been wrestling with for years. As a buzzword, it’s overused. It elevates expectations and scares away progress. Yet, in practice, it’s more important than ever.

Innovation has been a particularly timely topic for federal agencies. Amidst budget cuts and general uncertainty, management is forced to find new and less costly ways of achieving their missions. But innovation doesn’t require a reinvention of the wheel, as Sydney Smith-Heimbrock of OPM’s Innovation Lab said last week: It can be a new approach or, importantly, improvement of existing processes.

Over the next several weeks, we will work to explore innovation in the federal enterprise. We’ll be talking to “innovators,” tracking down those raising the bar, finding what’s working at agencies across the country and sharing what we learn with you.

As such, I’m keeping my eyes open for stories, events, and blogs that are worth sharing. In fact, we’ll be heading to a forum in Washington, D.C. on October 11, “The Innovation Imperative for Government: Leading in a Time of Uncertainty.”

I’m looking forward to hearing from the man in the hot seat—Dan Tangherlini, Acting Administrator at GSA—discuss the importance of innovation in a time of constant scrutiny and budgetary constraint. He’ll be joined by Dr. Jay Schnitzer, Director Defense Sciences office at DARPA, Shelley Metzenbaum, Associate Director of Performance and Personnel Management at OMB, and Dr. Bruce Chew from the Monitor Group. They’ll be exploring tangible tools and some very real best practices – from the private and public sectors – that can be leveraged across agencies.

If you cannot make it in person, check back next week for a review and highlight of key takeaways. In the meantime, if you know of people in your agency doing great and innovative work, send us an email or share their story in the comments—we want to tell the stories of the people and organizations you know that are making government excellent.

(Image via Violetkapia/Shutterstock.com)

]]>

Are Your Ideas Having Sex?

Bryan Klopack — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Now that I have your attention…let me give you a bit of setup.

I am training for a marathon. In general, a stupid thing to do. Not training, but running a marathon in the first place. I’ve done it before and for some reason have chosen to do it again. Regardless, my favorite strategy to occupy my mind while on long weekend runs is to download a few TED podcasts and expand my horizons. If you are not familiar with TED, you should be. TED is an international event with videos devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading.’

That said, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, introduced the notion of ‘ideas having sex’ during TEDGlobal 2010. Through extensive psychological research, paired with historical and economic analysis, Ridley provides a compelling case for collaboration.

“You need to understand how human beings bring together their brains and enable their ideas to combine and recombine, to meet and, indeed, to mate,” explains Ridley. “In other words, you need to understand how ideas have sex.”

As the Director of the Government Business Council, I have conducted several studies on collaboration, transparency, and breaking down agency silos. Too often, I have heard in surveys and focus groups that some leaders put up false barriers between and even within agencies. These barriers, whether masked behind the cloak of security, protocol, or good ole’ inter-agency politics, prevent the creation of an environment that allows for ideas to mate – for authentic collaboration.

In my mind (now remember, I listened to this while running on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., passing by stately USDA buildings on Independence Avenue…and fighting the urge to stop and turn around), the hypothesis tested by Ridley begs the question - does your manager encourage your ideas to have sex? I would argue that the collective brain of the federal government is a brilliant one. So, to belabor a cheesy metaphor, is your boss your idea pimp? Are you encouraged to court your ideas with colleagues and experts within and across your agency? Can you take your ideas to make-out point with state and local government officials – or private sector and NGOs in your field?

“Throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It's not important how clever individuals are,” Ridley says, “what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.”

To engage in some careful mating, here are some questions to consider inspired by a Harvard Business Review story entilted "Are You a Collaborative Leader?"

1. Be a Play Global Connector

Do you attend conferences outside your professional specialty?
Are you part of a broader networking organization?
Do you regularly blog or e-mail employees about trends, ideas, and people you encounter outside your organization?
How often do you meet with parties outside your agency who are not directly relevant to your immediate job demands or current operations?
Are you on the board of any outside organizations?

2. Engage Talent at the Periphery

How diverse is your immediate team in terms of nationality? Gender? Age?
How much time do you spend outside your home country?
Does your network include people in their twenties (who aren’t your kids)?

3. Collaborate at the Top First

Do members of your team have any joint responsibilities beyond their individual goals?
Does the compensation of your direct reports depend on any collective goals or reflect any collective responsibilities?
What specifically have you done to eradicate power struggles within your team?
Do your direct reports have both performance and learning goals?

4. Show a Strong Hand

Have you killed any collaboration projects in the past six months?
Do you manage dynamically—forming and disbanding teams quickly as opportunities arise?
Do the right people in your organization know they can “close” a discussion and make a decision?
Does your team debate ideas vigorously but then unite behind decisions made?

Want more Excellence in Government? Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | Google + | LinkedIn

(Image via Lightspring/Shutterstock.com)

]]>

The Fed Who Took a Risk and Saved Lives

Bryan Klopack and The Partnership for Public Service — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:29:00 -0400

Working with the Partnership for Public Service, we have the privilege of profiling the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (a.k.a. the SAMMIES) winners over the next several weeks. We will not only tell their incredible stories of determination and, in many cases, life-changing achievements – but we’ll also be pulling out key leadership and management tips with a few lessons learned that can be modeled across agencies.

The top medal, Federal Employee of the Year, was presented to Lynne Mofenson, branch chief, Adolescent and Maternal AIDS Branch at the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland. Lynne’s is a story of incredible innovation that challenged conventional wisdom and championed controversial methods that have since saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

I believe, at the heart of it, Lynne’s achievement is a premier example of taking a calculated risk – in a federal government that is often quite averse to the notion. The anti-AIDS drug, zidovudine, or AZT, which Lynne gave to pregnant mothers as part of a carefully-designed trial to eliminate HIV transmission, was highly controversial and feared dangerous. Luckily for Lynne, NIH has created an environment that is dependent on innovation and fearless collaboration.

So, I ask you – does your organization challenge you to innovate and take risks? Do you create an environment that allows your staff, or colleagues, to push the boundaries of conventional wisdom for the benefit of achieving your mission? At Excellence in Government Live on September 6^th, Elizabeth McGrath, Deputy Chief Management Officer at the Department of Defense, said in a keynote address, “If you have the opportunity to make a difference, you have the responsibility to do so.”

Lynne took that responsibility seriously. Read her story…

Conquering Childhood AIDS

By The Partnership for Public Service

Creating an AIDS-free generation worldwide has become a national goal in no small part because of Dr. Lynn Mofenson’s seminal work that has helped virtually eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to child in the United States.

When Mofenson came to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1989, there were over 2,000 new U.S. pediatric AIDS cases a year. Today, this number is now less than 100 per year.

Critical to halting this horrible epidemic was Mofenson’s role in designing and conducting a bold and controversial clinical study that used the only available anti-AIDS drug, zidovudine, or AZT, to prevent pregnant mothers from passing the HIV virus to their babies. At the time, no one had thought of using this drug for this purpose.

To Mofenson, launching the controversial study was “a no brainer.”

“It was a horrible disease, killing mothers and babies. We had to do something,” she said.

The clinical trial demonstrated a two-thirds reduction in the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child, down from 25 percent to 8 percent. It turned the tide on pediatric AIDS. “We were quite amazed that it worked so well,” Mofenson said.

“Lynne has been the preeminent scientific leader in the prevention of AIDS in children in the world,” said Dr. R.J. Simonds, a vice president at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Many people have contributed to AIDS research, but Simonds said Mofenson’s work provided clear direction and speed.

“She moved the field along uniquely because of her command of scientific issues,” he said. “Her credibility and knowledge base are unparalleled.”

Mofenson has since dedicated her career to conducting additional research and influencing national policy in the field.

She has been deeply involved in formulating recommendations on pediatric AIDS prevention, and serves as a leader in research and policy on the world stage, expanding the clinical trials network to developing countries in Africa and elsewhere. Through U.S. programming and funding to other countries, it is estimated that 200,000 infant HIV infections were prevented last year alone.

“Her mission is to wipe out pediatric AIDS,” said Dr. Sten Vermund, director of the Institute for Global Health at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “She really wants to make a difference for moms and kids, first in the U.S. and now in the developing world,” he said.

This is the first in a series of profiles featuring the recipients of the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. Presented to outstanding public servants by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, and sponsored in part by Bloomberg, Booz Allen Hamilton, The Boston Consulting Group, Chevron and United Technologies Corporation, the prestigious Sammies awards are offered in nine categories. To nominate a federal employee for a 2013 medal go to servicetoamericamedals.org.

Want more Excellence in Government? Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | Google + | LinkedIn

]]>

The 3 Keys to Motivating Feds During Tough Times

John M. Palguta and Bryan Klopack — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:57:00 -0400

"The job of federal manager is tough and getting tougher," concluded John Palguta, President of the Partnership for Public Service and moderator of a panel entitled "Leadership Beyond Limits: Breakthrough Practices for Increasing Employee Motivation" at Excellence in Government Live on Sept. 6.

With a focus on the best methods to inspire and encourage agency employees, the discussion was designed to enrich audience understanding of the connection between leadership and employee motivation and how to drive success in your agency. The audience was in search of concrete tools and techniques to bring out the best in their employees while improving their agency's Effective Leadership score on the Best Places to Work index. Palguta was joined by:

Reginald Wells, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Human Resources, Social Security Administration
Peggy Focarino, Commissioner for Patents, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Dan Tangherlini, Acting Administrator, General Services Administration
David Dye, Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Key takeaways:

Remind employees why they came to work for government in the first place.
- Wells: "With the kinds of tensions and pressures that all agencies are under these days, there is that tendency for people to become discouraged, for morale to drop and perhaps a loss of engagement on the parts of individuals or whole units of your organization and you really can't afford that. We're all in this to make a difference in the lives of people, we wouldn't have come to government...if that wasn't a primary motivation...It's extremely important that we both nurture the engagement of folks and try to improve upon it...Remind people why they came to this work. We have found that is a major, major incentive.
Connect employees to the mission.
- Tangherlini: "I would say that the correlation, based on nothing other than my own experience, is one to one. Agency effectiveness in delivering mission and employee satisfaction are directly correlated. If you have an agency that is not particularly effective and has a less than fascinating mission you can probably get people to be satisfied working there but it's going to cost you a lot. It's going to require an awful lot of managerial gymnastics. I think the real issue comes down to figuring out ways that you can maintain sustainable connections between the employees and the work, the employees and the mission, and giving them some sense that, if the place is effective, it’s because they made some kind of contribution to that outcome."
Mentoring and coaching are key.
- Focarino: "We're focusing on the key role of coaching and mentoring because frankly a person's connection to their first line supervisor really dictates whether they stay in a job or they leave…That first line supervisor has to know that they have a huge influence and we need to give them the tools to coach and mentor and deal with performance issues early and have the tools that they need to hold people accountable. They're responsible for a bottom line but they're also responsible for inspiring people to do more than the bare minimum."

The panel concluded that, even in tough times, focused leadership can maintain and even increase employee motivation, engagement and organizational effectiveness. It isn’t easy and there are no guarantees in the current environment of rising workloads, decreasing resources, increased retirements and declining public support. But research shows that success in this regard is not accidental--its linked to specific management actions.

The good news? While successful leaders have always managed to figure out how to engage their employees, they are now increasingly focused on doing so and sharing the lessons learned.

What are you finding to be the keys to employee engagement?

Want more Excellence in Government? Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | Google + | LinkedIn

]]>

Excellence is not an act, but a habit

Bryan Klopack, Excellence in Government — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 20:12:00 -0400

For almost thirty years now, the concept of “excellence in government” has served as an aspiration in the federal community – actively championed by various organizations and officials. For more than a decade, the Excellence in Government Conference provided best practices to government innovators. As dramatic change comes to government and agency leaders work to adapt and innovate, I believe the mission of Excellence in Government is more important than ever.

Enter: Excellence in Government Online

Through this new online destination, our goal is to provide current and rising federal leadership with the latest innovations critical to overcome key challenges, best practices and case studies to model, essential research and insights to further career goals and agency missions, and a place to connect with fellow leaders and discuss solutions to today’s most critical issues. We are working together with thought leaders from across the federal community to create a clearinghouse for the tools critical for you to advance the business of government.

Built upon Government Executive’s deep knowledge of federal operations, management, and oversight – along with our research division, the Government Business Council’s years of studying the challenges and management best practices of federal agencies, this new blog will showcase innovative ideas and essential leadership tools.

We’ve brought together a few old friends – Executive Coach Scott Eblin, and our Management Matters blog – and added several new voices to bring fresh ideas and disruptive leadership tips to help you become more effective. These new voices will be a part of our exciting new blog Promising Practices: A forum for government’s best ideas and most innovative leaders.

“We are what we repeatedly do,” said Aristotle. “Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” I invite you to join us in our effort to make “excellence in government” more than aspiration and more than annual act. As we endeavor to move from act to habit, check back daily to read, comment, and share these ideas that represent government at its best.

]]>