A Leader Just Like You
The first year I joined the government my boss decided to bring the daily morning news clips into the 21st century. Because everyone was so concerned about the impending change, we actually had to hold FOCUS GROUPS. To More...
Real-Speak vs. Government-Speak
Today we saw either the coolest or most unsightly thing. A deer tried to jump an iron fence and ended up hanging on a spike by his neck. My daughter grabbed her phone, took a photo, and posted it to More...
Why Organizations Lie To Themselves
Photo by Scott Hamlin via Flickr When you stand on the scale you get the truth about your weight. For most of us that number isn’t a pretty sight and we don’t get the answer we want. So we tell ourselves: “Weight More...
When Leaders Can’t Distinguish Their Employees From Themselves
Photo by Nathan Goddard via Flickr This morning my mother reminded me of a story I would rather forget. “Do you remember when you wore Bubbie’s bathrobe to shul (synagogue) thinking it was a dress?” Oh More...
No-Propaganda Government Communication: Is It Possible?
Thirty years ago it was almost unheard of to pay a public relations firm to communicate on behalf of the federal government: we spent just $2 million over the course of 12 years, from 1980-1992. By 2003 that figure More...
O, The Exquisite Agony That Is Workflow (In Government Or Anywhere)
Photo by Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr So lately I’ve been thinking about the exquisite pain that is document generation, collaboration and final approval in the typical organization. (While I work More...
Scandal: “Dysfunctional Culture” or “Isolated Incident”?
Photo by Staindrop via Flickr The news is always dominated by scandal and the news this morning is no different. Ugly reports of ugly behavior. Army: In Afghanistan, photographs of soldiers smiling “thumbs More...
Dannielle Blumenthal: Boring vs. Daring
Photo by Roland Tanglao via Flickr In a gym full of Feds watching the TV monitors. It’s evening news time. -One screen has a commentator talking about Mitt Romney, the word “robotic” More...
Government 2.0: “Footloose” Edition
Screenshot via: A ChucksConnection Film Review: Footloose After high school hoodlums throw a brick through the window, narrowly missing his little cousins “Ren’s” (Kevin Bacon’s) More...
Jennifer Lawrence, Repair Feminism’s Brand. Please. (Hilary Rosen)
Screen shot: Entertainment Weekly cover feat. Jennifer Lawrence, February 29, 2012 issue “His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic More...
