Older Feds Aren't Playing to Their Strengths
Is It Too Hard to Fire Misbehaving Feds?
Americans Still Like the Postal Service
A Forced 4-Day Weekend for Many Feds
No More Tax-Cheating Feds, Senators Say
Video: The Daily Show on Apple's Taxes
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
Sarah Agan
Director, Corner Alliance Inc.
Sarah Agan is a regular contributor to Excellence in Government. She has spent the past 17 years working with clients across the federal government with a focus on helping individuals and organizations thrive. She is a Director at Corner Alliance Inc.
Post-Election Blues: How to Recover from Electoral Insanity
November 6, 2012 Perhaps it’s the nature of elections that drives us insane. How they focus our attention on the faults of others, whip us into a competitive frenzy and instill a wired crankiness in those paying a smidgeon of attention. I blame it on the ads. And that’s the thing. As summer ...
When it Comes to Preparedness, There’s No Time for Fighting
October 30, 2012 My husband and I took very different approaches to dealing with (or not dealing with) Hurricane Sandy and I’m curious if you had similar conversations in the days leading up to the storm: An excerpt of our conversation: Me: “honey, we need to prepare for the storm.” Him: “we’ll be ...
Stop Wasting Time Trying to Get Along
October 23, 2012 I like being with people who get along. I enjoy collegiality and nice people. AND, lately I’m hearing a lot from clients about personality differences and leaders wanting to fix those personality differences. I started to think, just today in fact, that perhaps we might just get over the fact ...
What Does Your Wanted Poster Say?
October 16, 2012 As Ernest Shackleton prepared for his Antarctic expedition he had to find men (sorry ladies, he was looking for men only) for the journey. His advertisement said: Men Wanted For Hazardous Journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in ...
The 2 Things I've Learned From My ASS-umptions
October 9, 2012 My husband and I live is a suburb of Washington, D.C. Over the years we’ve witnessed a wide spectrum of disturbances, ranging from the serious (gang and drug activity) to the less serious (zoning violations). Among those lesser nuisances (and a big pet peeve of mine) is the sheer volume ...
How My Husband’s Videogames Made Me a Better Listener
October 2, 2012 I came to terms with the fact my husband likes to play Xbox. I resisted this for a long time and finally accepted it’s something he enjoys. He often tells me about the games he plays - and I listen. Well, actually, I really don’t listen. We were having dinner ...
Does Your Job Matter?
September 25, 2012 What can you get for $5.00 these days? In Washington D.C., that will get you a latte at Starbucks. In Rushville, Illinois, that will get you a check-up from 87-year old Dr. Russell Dohner. His office is in the same building where he started practicing medicine 57 years ago when ...
Is Collaboration Creating Action or Stalling Progress?
September 18, 2012 It's often said that a camel is a horse designed by committee. I found myself thinking about this while working with a client on an organizational realignment initiative where the leader engaged his senior team in looking at a new organizational model better aligned to their recently expanded mission. My ...
When losing is winning: leadership lessons from Zenyatta
September 4, 2012 Zenyatta is a racehorse. I saw her on an episode of 60 Minutes one week before the 2010 Breeder’s Cup. By the end of the hour segment I felt like an 8-year old girl, once again in love with horses. I was enamored with this horse named Zenyatta who during ...
Generate commitment by following through on yours
August 29, 2012 A friend asked me the other morning, “how can we get people to keep their commitments?” The most powerful thing we can do to help others follow-through on the commitments they make, I responded, is to do so ourselves. Frankly, most of us are pretty lousy at commitments because we ...
