Recommended Books on
Leadership in Government
Managing Government Employees: How to Motivate Your
People, Deal with Difficult Issues and Achieve Tangible Results
By Stewart Liff
Drawing on his 30 years of real world experience as an HR professional, manager,
and Senior Executive in the Federal Government, Stewart Liff provides many great
tactics, case studies and stories that debunk common perceptions that
government managers have of the government's personnel system. Liff argues that
government managers can make the system work effectively, provided they know the
rules, set high expectations, and approach problems with integrity and courage.
Includes excellent chapters on dealing with difficult people, recognizing
excellent performance, working effectively with unions, and handling attendance
problems. This book should be required reading for all supervisors in
government.
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Transforming Public Leadership for the 21st Century
Edited by Ricardo S. Morse, Terry F. Bass and C. Morgan Kinghorn
Transforming Public Leadership for the 21st Century
is an extremely welcome addition to the literature on public administration
thanks to its relevance to the real work done by public managers--which, first
and foremost, involves getting the government’s work done through
people. Includes terrific chapters on being a
change agent, dealing with complexity, effectively managing presidential
transitions, leading large IT projects, leading through networks and many others
topics. The articles are interesting, refreshing--and sometimes provocative. If
we are fortunate, this volume will be followed by many more scholarly works that
focus on the critical issue of how public managers actually lead their people.
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A
Legacy of 21st Century Leadership
By Les Wallace and James Trinka
This is a great book. A Legacy of 21st Century Leadership synthesizes
some of the most compelling current research on how leaders learn to lead and provides many
provocative insights about the importance of leaving a leadership legacy. Jim Trinka
and Les Wallace argue that leaders need to make a conscious decision to lead,
learn constantly, model effective leadership for the next generation, and focus
on developing others. They also advocate developing leaders at all levels across
the organization (rather than focusing on a “favored few”) and using varied and
challenging assignments as a key leadership development tool. This book
provides a terrific roadmap for cultivating a climate of leadership in your
agency or organization. Trinka
currently serves as Director of Technical Training and Development for the FAA.
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The
First 90 Days in Government
By Peter H. Daly and Michael Watkins
The transition period when a new leader takes over an organization or work unit
in the public sector has a huge impact that leader’s success. "First
impressions" really are important, and leaders who fail to establish trust with
their new charges from the beginning are very unlikely to earn it later. Michael
Watkins, author of The First 90 Days has now teamed up with Peter Daly to
publish a book that addresses government-specific transition issues. Includes tips on how to move
mentally into a new role (e.g. from "subject matter expert" to "manager"), how
to speed up learning about the new organization, the importance of securing
early wins, and how to avoid “predictable surprises.” Extremely useful to anyone
moving into a new role in government.
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American Generalship:
Character is Everything
By Edgar F. Puryear
American Generalship provides many wonderful insights into the professional
development of some of the greatest U.S. military leaders of 20th Century,
including Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, MacArthur, and Creech.
Edgar Puryear based this book on interviews he conducted with more than 100
officers of the four-star rank. Includes numerous anecdotes that
illustrate how these great leaders valued (and modeled) selflessness, avoided
“yes-men,” mentored others (and were mentored themselves), read voraciously, and
delegated effectively.
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Why Great Leaders Don't Take YES for an Answer
By Michael A. Roberto
Michael Roberto argues that one of the most important things a
leader can do when he/she needs to make an important decision is to decide
how to decide. The process chosen by the
leader can have a huge impact on both the quality of the decision and the
organization's buy-in when implementing it. Also discusses how to
encourage constructive conflict (to elicit a range of options) while
simultaneously cultivating consensus. Includes several public sector case
studies, such as the Bay of Pigs and the Columbia disaster. Chapter
one is available
on GovLeaders.org. Read More...
Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers
By Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest R. May
First published in 1986, this classic work by Neustadt and May, should be
required reading for every government executive who makes policy decisions--and
every staffer who plays a supporting role in the decision process. Drawing
on numerous case studies from 20th Century American history (e.g. the Cuban
Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs and the escalation of the Vietnam War), the authors provide a clear and
potentially quick methodology for assessing policy decisions in the context of
history. The case studies are compelling and the methodology is widely
applicable.
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Good
to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
By Jim Collins
After publishing
Good to Great, Jim Collins heard from
so many government non-profit managers that he decided to write an extra chapter
that shows how the principles from Good to Great relate to the social
sector. He finds that the secret of high performance in government is
not to run government like a business, but rather
to focus on excellence in a disciplined way. Includes numerous useful
lessons for public managers. For example, given the difficulty of getting
bad employees "off the bus," managers should use use probationary periods as a
true test of new employees and keep only those who have proven themselves to be
great employees. Read More...
Many Unhappy Returns
By Charles Rossotti
When Charles Rossotti took
over as Comissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in 1997 the IRS had more
customers than any organization in America--and the lowest customer service
rating. In Many Unhappy Returns, Rosotti describes how he lead a
major turnaround of the agency in spite of the extraordinary constraints he
faced. This is an epic tale of organizational transformation as well as
being a very engaging read.
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Rules & Tools for Leaders: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Effective
Managing
By Major General Perry M. Smith, Ph.D., USAF
(Ret.)
This is simply one of the most thoughtful and practical
leadership guides you will find anywhere. It is packed with
actionable tips on everything from transitions, integrity and
strategic planning, to hiring, counseling and rewarding associates.
Also includes several checklists that leaders can use periodically to make sure
they are on-track.
Indeed, this is a book you may decide to keep close at hand for many
years.
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Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach
By Col.
Dandrige M. Malone, USA (Ret.)
This terrific little book was written as a leadership primer for
U.S. Army company commanders (i.e. front-line leaders). The
leadership concepts here are explained with great clarity and are
equally relevant to non-military settings, despite the military
jargon used throughout the book. Includes some gripping war
stories that demonstrate the benefits of developing your people and
building teamwork.
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How to Manage in the Public Sector
By Gordon Chase and Elizabeth
Reveal
This classic book was published in 1983 but it is still highly
relevant today. Gordon Chase was an exceptionally effective
public manager who inspired many by his example and by his teaching
at the Kennedy School of Government. This book was published
posthumously and is drawn from a manuscript and other notes he left
behind. Includes lots of insightful and practical advice about how to deal
with elected officials, their staffers, community groups, and the
media.
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Leadership Counts: Lessons for Public Managers from
the Massachusetts Welfare, Training and Employment Program
By
Robert D. Behn
Bob Behn uses the Massachusetts "ET Choices" welfare-to-work program
as a vehicle to explain the importance of leadership for public managers
who are trying to
implement effective public sector programs. Along the way, he provides a
very insightful discussion of the issues and constraints faced by public
managers and the difficulty of evaluating government programs. An
engaging read.
Read more...
The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell
By Oren Harari
This book expands on (and follows the organization of)
Oren Harari's widely disseminated article, "Quotations
from Chairman Powell: A Leadership Primer." This is an
exceptionally useful book, loaded with insights into the leadership style of
former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Read more...
Five Star Leadership: The Art and Strategy of Creating Leaders at
Every Level
By Patrick L. Townsend and Joan E. Gebhardt
Many people assume that military leadership is all about command
and control. Not so. This excellent review of the
literature on U.S. military leadership doctrine shows that the U.S. armed forces may actually be out in front of many private
sector organizations in terms of pushing authority down to the
appropriate level and developing leaders throughout the
organization. Includes numerous anecdotes of truly
inspirational leadership. Five Stars.
Read More...
The Bureaucratic Entrepreneur: How to Be Effective in an Unruly
Organization
By Richard N. Haass
The Bureaucratic Entrepreneur is a well-written and superbly
organized guide on how to be effective in government. It is packed
with practical advice on how to manage up, down and laterally within
an organization, as well as how to work effectively with external
actors like Congress, the media, and interest groups. Although some
sections seem to talk more to political appointees, most of Haass's
advice is relevant for any government employee who wants to get
things done. Highly recommended.
Read more...
Territorial Games: Understanding & Ending Turf Wars at Work
By Annette Simmons
This book is not specifically about the public sector, but it might as well be. Simmons identifies 10 games that people play at work in order to protect their turf. Although territoriality is instinctive--and even necessary at times--territorial games can be incredibly counterproductive when they are played out of habit
(as is too often the case in bureaucracies). Includes
questionnaires that can be used to help people identify the games they play themselves and recommends a number of ways to diminish the use of territorial games. Highly recommended.
Click
here to read
a PDF version of Chapter 1.
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Transformational Leadership in Government
By Jerry W. Koehler, Joseph M. Pankowski
Koehler and Pankowski played key leadership roles in
transforming the Florida Department of Employment and Labor Security
into a highly effective organization. In this very useful
book, they explain the nuts and bolts of how leaders can apply the
principles of Total Quality Management in a government setting.
Read more...
The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills
at Work
By Peter Block
An embarrassingly accurate description of how communication
typically occurs within a bureaucratic organization and the problems
caused by that norm. The author then moves on to describe what
mid-level managers can do to change their part of the organization.
Highly Recommended.
Read more...
Profiles in Leadership
By Alan Axelrod
This
well-organized biographic encyclopedia focuses on 158 of the most
effective leaders in history, including generals, politicians,
conquerors and reformers from Abbas the Great to Yang Chien.
Each profile includes a brief summary of the individual's
accomplishments and leadership style. Some of the profiles
have quotations as well. Although the profiles tend to be a bit superficial,
this book is a great introduction to many important but lesser-known
leaders from history and may prompt many readers to do
further reading into their lives.
Read more...
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reviews--and purchase the books if they so desire.
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