Skip to main content

Aren't You Tired...

... of reading negative news, fake news, and the latest salacious sex scandal involving some notable person?

I certainly am.

I initially started this blog back in 2015 as an assignment for graduate school. I recently decided to return to posting about my experiences with public sector management because the public needs to know there are more positive things happening in our communities than the media is reporting.

Previous posts in this blog have highlighted public and private sector leaders and lessons we can learn from them. These personal stories were the most popular among readers. Individuals can identify with them and imagine what they would do if faced with similar circumstances.

Future blog posts will highlight more of these individuals who have accomplished great things in their organizations and in their communities. Among these outstanding individuals, we'll feature:


  • A  general manager who transformed a struggling water utility facing community distrust after a lead pipe contamination scandal.
  • A CEO of a public transit company who turned around a system that had been hemorrhaging money for years and created a budget surplus in his first year on the job.
  • A sheriff who recognizes prison is for more than just housing criminals, particularly those with mental health problems. His techniques have led to reduced recidivism rates and the lowest jail population in 10 years. 

These stories and much more will be featured in the coming weeks. This blog is geared for an audience of public sector leaders at all levels. The articles shared and the insights posed are intended to inspire you to embrace your role as a public servant, to proudly walk among your community knowing the benefits your organization provides, and to ignite a passion within yourself and your followers to give more than just "Good Enough!"


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Amundsen-Scott Race to the Antarctic

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 Value of a Career in Public Service

I consider a career in public service to be a privilege. Every day I have the opportunity to make my community a better place.  Every day I have the opportunity to do meaningful work, work that matters.  Every day, I have the opportunity make a difference in someone’s life. Do you believe what you do every day is important? To some people, this may simply be a job. Perhaps they were only looking for good benefits, steady pay, or something closer to home. This job offers those things, but it also provides an opportunity to serve others. For those of us who have chosen public service as a profession, it is clear that the work we do matters. We directly impact people’s lives in very tangible ways. As a public utility provider, we provide necessities – clean drinking water, safe and efficient natural gas, wastewater collection and disposal – and these are critical to the health and well-being of a community.  Without us, without the services we provid...

The Power of Passion

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. ...