What Agency Executives Can Learn From Timothy Geithner

From the memoirs of Obama administration appointees.

A host of memoirs by former Obama administration Cabinet chiefs have been arriving in bookstores, offering valuable management lessons for political appointees and career civil servants. This is the first in a series on the experiences of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (Stress Test), Defense Secretary Robert Gates (Duty), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Hard Choices), and Defense and intelligence chief Leon Panetta (Worthy Fights).

In Stress Test, Timothy Geithner chronicles his challenging path as Treasury Department secretary during one of the nation’s most crippling economic crises since the Great Depression. Among insights for government leaders:

There are two Washingtons—one a “policy city” and the other an “operations city.” Geithner spent his government career focused on policy as opposed to the operations of government. In Stress Test, he describes the enormous challenge of getting policy right. In his positions as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then Treasury secretary, Geithner spent his time deploying the tools of monetary and fiscal policy to lessen the impact of the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. In reflecting on his career in public service, Geithner writes of his love of “the craft of economic policy.”

Of the 10 bureaus within Treasury (where 98 percent of its employees are located), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is the only one mentioned in Geithner’s 600-page book. He was not thinking much about the operations of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the U.S. Mint, or the Internal Revenue Service during his time at Treasury. This is not a criticism. In fact, many political executives spend their time almost exclusively on policy, not operations. The key insight for future political appointees is to understand what type of position they being appointed to. An operational position would not have been an effective use of Geithner’s talents and experience, which were clearly rooted in policy. Implementers are not policy folks and policymakers are not implementers.

Government service is a team sport. In his memoir, Geithner is generous in his praise of colleagues at the Federal Reserve and Treasury. The dedication reads: “For the intrepid public servants at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve who worked with great skill and devotion to help guide their country through the crisis.” The final chapter, “Tribute to a Crisis Team,” is devoted to the accomplishments of those he served with at the Federal Reserve, the New York Fed, and Treasury. Geithner writes, “Exceptional were the people involved in the (crisis) response and their spirit of cooperation. I wanted to recognize them and give you a sense of their contributions.” Geithner realized that his effectiveness as secretary largely depended on his ability to mobilize and unify the array of public servants working to respond to the economic crisis.

You have to communicate what you are doing. Geithner is critical of himself for his poor communication skills during the financial crisis and his entire tenure. While proud of the decisions he made to try to rescue the economy, he writes, “I never found an effective way to explain to the public what we were doing and why.” He expresses deep regrets about not having done a better job of explaining the administration’s strategy. Numerous political executives have stressed the importance of communicating to stakeholders, including the public. Appointees and career civil servants need to understand that their challenge is not only to do their job effectively, but also to communicate what they are doing.

Appointees will need patience in working with Congress. Geithner does not mince words about his difficulty in dealing with Congress. “I witnessed some appalling behavior in the political arena—selfishness and grandstanding, shameless hypocrisy and mindless partisanship,” he writes. “Dealing with Congress, to put it mildly, did not feel like a careful deliberative journey in search of the best public policy.” Future appointees need to be prepared to operate in this increasingly partisan environment.

Public service is worthwhile. Throughout his tenure, Geithner had to refute the incorrect assertion that he was a Wall Street banker (many thought he was a Goldman Sachs alumnus). In fact, Geithner started his career as a GS-13 civil servant in Treasury’s International Trade Office and spent 12 years at the department. He became a career deputy assistant secretary and then accepted a political appointment late in the Clinton administration. Chapter 2, “An Education in Crisis,” details his time as a career civil servant—required reading for those considering a career in public service. “I didn’t go into government to be a reforming crusader,” Geithner writes. “I just wanted to do interesting and consequential work. I wanted to be part of something larger than myself.” 

Geithner hopes that reflecting on the crisis “encourages Americans to reconsider the value of strong public institutions and capable public servants.” By describing his own experiences in government, his memoir might serve to attract future generations to public service.

Mark A. Abramson is president of management consulting firm Leadership Inc., and Paul R. Lawrence is a principal in Ernst & Young LLP’s Government Practice. They are the authors of What Government Does: How Political Executives Manage.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.