Good Enough for Government Work

The 2008 movie Taken, is the story of a man, a former CIA agent played by Liam Neeson, whose daughter has been kidnapped in Paris by Albanian sex traffickers. In a now-famous line from the film, Neeson’s character, Brian Mills, warns the kidnappers over the phone: “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don’t have any money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills I have acquired over a long career… if you don’t [let my daughter go], I will look for you. I will find you, and I will kill you.” To make a long story short, the kidnappers soon learned of Mills’ particular skills and he ultimately retrieved his daughter from them, safe and sound. This scene resonated with audiences and the “particular set of skills” line has become iconic in pop culture, generating countless internet memes. The Mills character is not arrogant and he is not bragging when he warns the kidnappers. He ...

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. – Ralph Waldo Emerson In the previous post we discussed the importance of a clear mission to a leader. In our public agencies, a clear mission is essential if we ever hope to get our followers to give us more than the minimal amount of effort necessary. We need a mission our followers can embrace and are willing to pursue with the same enthusiasm we, as their leaders, have. As public sector leaders, we must embrace a mission that we can personally be passionate about. Because without passion, our employees – our followers – will be indifferent about the work. There is no universe where indifference leads to high-performance. Passion, for leaders, has a few meanings. ...

Why Does Your Public Organization Exist?  Over the course of the past six weeks, we have talked about great leaders in the public sector - some very recognizable names and even a few obscure individuals, perhaps not widely known outside of their communities. There are many leadership lessons we can learn from each of these individuals, but a few characteristics stand out in each one of the examples.   Clear purpose Passion Trust All of the leaders discussed thus far had clear objectives in mind as they took on their leadership roles. Captain Abrashoff was committed to "running the best damn ship in the Navy." Mayor Rudy Giuliani's initial mission was to clean up the crime in New York City and return it to the great cities in America. His follow-up purpose following 9/11 was to recover, rebuild and restore New Yorker's sense that nothing or no one could kill its spirit. Rick Baker had a purpose which became the official slogan, "Make St. Petersburg...

A Lesson in Leadership from the South Pole.  I recently read Great by Choice  by Jim Collins, the follow-up to his mega-successful Good to Great (2001) .  This newest book examines a number of companies in an attempt to understand why they achieve and maintain extraordinary levels of success despite an environment of change and uncertainty – even chaos. This is in fact, the world we currently inhabit. In the public sector world, we are facing partisanship, polarization, lack of public confidence, and distrust of everything government.  What are we, as public sector leaders, to do if we wish to turn the tide of negativity? This blog has examined but a few examples of great public leaders and the turnarounds they accomplished in their own organizations or communities. Each had a mix of talents, traits, skills, and behaviors they employed to inspire followers to reach for and achieve their vision of a better community. This week’s blog will depart slightly from...

The Seamless City   In keeping with the week’s long theme of highlighting successful public sector leaders and their leadership styles, this post introduces another city mayor, Rick Baker of St. Petersburg, Florida. Baker is not as well-known as Rudy Giuliani and certainly did not run a cosmopolitan metropolis the size of New York, but Rick Baker is a visionary leader who has been recognized as the Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine and one of America’s greatest mayors for his approach to urban revitalization and neighborhood inclusiveness. Rick Baker, a corporate lawyer and a staunch conservative, was elected Mayor of St. Petersburg in 2001 with no experience running a local government. In his previous positions he had led a medium-sized law firm and was president of the local Chamber of Commerce. In his words, nothing had prepared him for 3,000 employees in 34 departments which included police, fire, water and sewer, sanitation, parks, and roads. Whe...

Love him or hate him, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani literally wrote the book on Leadership (well… he wrote A book on leadership). There is no doubt Giuliani is divisive and polarizing. He has said some truly outrageous things in the media in the last few years and has made some serious political blunders. Despite his controversy, there is also no doubt the man can lead. He became the face and voice of America following the terrorist attacks on September 11. Under his leadership, the city of New York healed, recovered, and bounced back to its former glory. So too did America, following the lead of Mayor Giuliani. Less well-known (and certainly overshadowed by his 9/11 leadership) is the transformation he created in the City of New York when he took office nearly 8 years before the attacks. Continuing to highlight exemplary leaders in the public sector, this week’s blog entry will tell the story of Rudy Giuliani and the type of leadership he employed as the chief ...

Get a copy of the book here Captain D. Michael Abrashoff was the former commander of the guided missile destroyer, the USS Benfold , during the late 1990s.  During his tenure as Captain of the ship, Abrashoff led the ship to achieve the highest performance scores in the Navy, slashed operational costs, and improved crew morale. How he accomplished this is the subject of the book, It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy , written by Abrashoff himself. When Captain Abrashoff took command of the Benfold in 1997, the prior commander was not well-liked by his crew, the ship was among the worst performers of any in the Navy (as evidenced by its poor “readiness indicators”), and the ship’s retention rate was at a dismal 28% - that is to say almost ¾ of its sailors were so disenfranchised with the assignment, they chose not to reenlist for a second tour. By the end of his command, the Benfold was operating on a budget surplus; its readiness indic...

The Extent of the Problem The phrase, “It’s good enough for government work,” has come to illustrate the negative stereotype of public sector workers as ineffective, uncaring, lazy, and inefficient. But is this stereotype accurate? Do American citizens really believe their civil servants are this bad? Unfortunately, recent surveys do not paint a pretty picture of American’s perception of us. A 2010 survey by the The Washington Post found only 51% of Americans believe federal public workers work as hard as their counterparts in the private sector and 52% of Americans believe they are paid too much money ( Rein & O’Keefe, 2010 ). In 2014, the McKinsey Center for Government surveyed 17,000 individuals across fifteen states and discovered people were more than twice as likely to be satisfied with private enterprise exchanges as with government services. Furthermore, exchanges with essential government services such as public transportation and the DMV had the lowest satisfaction scor...