The New Bureaucrat

J. Chris Bernard – Childhood Hunger, A Solvable Problem? Jan 19, 2022

J. Chris Bernard is passionate about ending child hunger in Oklahoma. The state is committed to leveraging the power of collaboration to solve hunger in Oklahoma by improving systems, policies, and practices. Chris believes that as a nation we have both the food and the money already available, but the challenge is coordinating all the pieces. Learn more about the Masterclass for Results-Driven State Government.

David Kilgore – On Being Approachable Dec 09, 2021

David Kilgore is a communicator. In leading his 600+ employees he spends a lot of time breaking down walls because he believes it is important to enjoy work while acknowledging the impact it has on the children and families of California. As the leader of the California Department of Child Support Services, he doesn’t hesitate to jump into a project, roll up his sleeves and work side-by-side with people at all levels of the organization. Learn more about John's MasterClass.

Bekah Christensen – Unleashing Innovation Aug 27, 2021

Innovation is key to state government, and California's model program, Innovation Playbook for Government Change Agents (Cal-IPGCA), is entering its 10th year. Program Chair and IPGCA founder Bekah Christensen leads the state-funded immersive experiential learning environment where trainees re-imagine enterprise-wide challenges from a whole-systems perspective and unlock elegant, innovative solutions. She's is an inspiring character in so many ways! Click this link to learn more about my MasterClass.

Justin Brown – Transformation and Poverty Jul 29, 2021

Justin Brown is an energetic, passionate innovator focused on going at the root causes of poverty. A former CEO, Justin fully recognizes new ambitions demand new capabilities and new investments in the organization. He has concluded that poverty is the root cause of many of the struggles people in his state face, and addressing it has will have significant downstream impact on the human services needed. Learn more about my MasterClass.

Kathleen Webb - From Theory to Practice at Cal DMV Jun 08, 2021

Kathleen Webb has gone from theory to practice, moving from her role as Director of Performance Improvement for the California Government Operations Agency to the state’s DMV as its Chief Deputy Director. Serving 50,000 customers the DMV was infamous for stories of day-long lines, although a strike team learned that 16% of all customers waited more than 2 hours. Today, the average wait time in 20 minutes, and it’s only going to get better. Learn more about John's Masterclass.

ECOS – Live podcast about podcasting Mar 31, 2021

The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) held a session on using podcast to help tell the story of the work states are doing on the environment -- and we recorded the virtual session live as a podcast! Why not! Join me with along with Pat McDonnell, ECOS 2021 president and secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection along with Misael Cabrera, director of Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality

Doug Robinson – The Agile State CIO Mar 04, 2021

Technology during the pandemic enabled everything from working at home to vaccine distribution to rapid application of intelligent “bots” to help speed service to citizens in need. But with the escalating citizen needs of the future and the limited resources CIOs will need to increasingly agile. Check out NASCIO’s annual CIO survey. Check out my special MasterClass Offering for Team Managers.

Patrick McDonnell – The Power of Sharing Knowledge Jan 25, 2021

The Environmental Council of the States is doing what the founding fathers dreamed of, making sure the collective learning of the 50 states gets shared. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell serves as the 2021 president of the council of his peers, an organization with a long reputation for collective learning. On this episode, he shares how the council has earned its reputation.

Governor Chris Gregoire – Getting government focused on results Jan 04, 2021

Driven to spend her life making a difference, former Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire started life from humble beginnings and went on to impact tens of millions of lives not only in her home state, but across the nation. During her two terms as governor she was constantly seeking facts and drove results across state agencies through routine business reviews that dug into problems.

Misael Cabrera – The urgent need for excellence in government Dec 22, 2020

Arizona Dept of Environmental Quality has dramatically increased environmental outcomes, delivered award-winning online services, and kept agency costs flat because of a deep commitment to implementing Lean. Misael Cabrera, joined in 2011 as deputy director, became director in 2015, and has been instrumental in the success of Governor Doug Ducey’s national model the Arizona Management System. Passionate and articulate, Misael believes that excellence is every public servant's calling, and that excellence must be measurable to be real.

Bryan Snoddy – Civil Rights: Listening to the voices of the unheard Nov 27, 2020

In the Air Force Bryan Snoddy picked up a passion for process, emerging from law school and ending up in state service in Texas, he works to take his team’s influence beyond processing complaints to changing the conversation. His vision is that the diverse voices of Texas get heard and respected by all. It’s a tall order but Bryan’s commitment is unwavering.

Henry Darwin – Leading Lean from the Top at the EPA Nov 09, 2020

Henry Darwin, Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, tells his story of implementing Lean first in the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, then statewide for the Governor of Arizona, and currently for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Henry’s experience has given him a deep set of beliefs about the work of leadership in Lean-based performance transformation.

Dr. Joseph Bernard – 2020 election stress relief Nov 03, 2020

As our cities and nation’s capital are being boarded up for fear of violent reaction to the election, so many people are feeling the stress that experts have named it “election stress disorder.” Dr. Joseph Bernard walks through the impacts of election stress and solutions for how to process it in healthy and healing ways.

Butch Eley – Healthy people and healthy businesses Nov 02, 2020

Butch Eley, Commissioner, Department for Finance and Administration, under Governor Bill Lee of the State of Tennessee, shares how the state has worked across its 95 counties to strike the right balance for protecting the health of the state’s people and the source of their livelihoods, the state’s businesses.

Adam C. Jarvis – Putting the customer front and center Oct 26, 2020

Adam C. Jarvis, Deputy Director of Governor Bill Lee’s Office of Customer Focused Government, is passionate about the inspiration that comes from being focused on seeing citizens who receive services from the state as customers. His job is to help bring that thinking to state government employees delivering the best possible service at the lowest possible cost. This has driven more services online including building an app for phones called “My Tennessee” where citizens can go to do what they need to do to work with the state. Learn more about the MasterClass.

Paul Mounds, Jr. – How people have stepped up to fight Covid-19 Oct 20, 2020

Paul, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s Chief of Staff, stepped into the role a week before the pandemic arrived in his state. While just prior to the new role he was serving the Governor as Chief Operating Officer, Paul stepped off the ledge into the complexity of leading the most challenging health crisis in a century. What has surprised him the most is how everyone has stepped up, citizens, state and local government staff, and state leaders in neighboring states (New York and New Jersey, specifically). Paul talks openly about the need to pay attention to the mental health toll all the work, stress and uncertainty is having on people in government.

Drew Erdmann – Transformation in a time of great challenge Oct 12, 2020

Drew, Missouri’s Chief Operating Officer, shares the stories of how earlier investments in leadership and management have accelerated the state’s ability to move quickly to address the challenges of the pandemic. Missouri started in 2017 on a series of cross-departmental initiatives in addition to large-scale engagements in management development. The skills, the tools, the approaches and the passion generated has enabled the rapid acceleration of changes demanded by COVID-19.

Kristen Cox – TOC: Which problems to ignore and which problems matter Oct 05, 2020

Kristen has built a reputation as a remarkably clear thinker. She articulates a way of solving problems that drives to the core of the problem based on the Theory of Constraints. Blind her entire adult life, that has never stopped Kristen from being visionary. Checkout her book, Stop Decorating the Fish, Which Problems to Ignore and which Problems Matter.

Joe Raasch -- Solve Problems, Don't Preach Lean Sep 03, 2020

Minnesota State Government doesn’t have to worry when its director of the state’s Office of Continuous Improvement shows up at any one of its 24 cabinet-level agencies. Joe Raasch believes in solving problems as the most powerful way to make Lean valuable. So when he comes to visit, he’s there to help solve department problems on the ground not on a soap box.

Black Man/White Man, A Conversation Jul 29, 2020

Dr. Brown is an African American man with a highly integrated life history. I grew up in all-white Milwaukie, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. This is a conversation between one black man and one white man about the challenges we face today in this nation. Challenges that don’t have to divide us, but challenges we do need to talk about.

Dr. Paul Bellatty -- The Power of Data to Transform Lives May 18, 2020

Oregon is using the power of longitudinal data to begin a long-term journey to identify -- as early in childhood as possible -- those most likely to struggle in life. The data gives the state the ability to identify those who most likely have a future that involves gang affiliation, unplanned teenage pregnancy, dropping out of school, mental health issues, suicide, substance abuse, and crime. With these early indicators understood, and data on the efficacy of interventions and programs equally understood, Oregon is headed to address the most complex issues of modern society.

Jason Jackson - Strategic Talent Strategy Mar 30, 2020

Bringing his experience as a lawyer, former naval officer and business executive in high tech, Jason Jackson joined Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts with a strategic eye on talent. Jason is working strategically through everything from figuring out the talent needed in the future to how best to attract the right people, to how to develop the internal workforce, and onto reengineering compensation strategies in order to incent innovation. Jason offers state leaders some practical perspective about human resources as a true strategic component of state government.

Dr. Este Geraghty – Leveraging Data to Fight COVID-19 Mar 21, 2020

As the pandemic disrupts the daily living of the human species, government leaders are scrambling to flatten the curve. The key is to be able to see what’s happening and use data in ways that informs action. Dr. Geraghty is the chief medical officer of Esri, the global leader in the technology known as geospatial information – the dots on maps you see coming from Johns Hopkins (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html), Esri (https://coronavirus-resources.esri.com/) and many other sites. Hear her perspective as an MD, and expert in public health and medical infomatics.

Amy Fecher – The Wholesale Reorganization of State Mar 13, 2020

Few states have the organizational fortitude and support it takes to overhaul the structure of state government. Arkansas is well into the process of moving from 200 boards, commissions and agencies down to a manageable 15 cabinet-level departments. From the vision for rationalizing a bloated and confusing structure, Governor Asa Hutchinson chartered Amy Fecher to lead the complex process that resulted in a statute that was more than 2,000 pages in length and earned so much support that only one legislator voted against it.

Jack Dangermond – Using Data to See Patterns, Connections and Relationships Feb 19, 2020

No single individual has done more to help government leaders understand their most complex problems, visualizing them in time and space, than Jack Dangermond. Growing up on a family nursery, and studying landscape design, Jack and his wife Laura founded Esri in 1969 with a vision to create a mapping and data analysis framework to create a deeper understanding of our world and to enable people to design a better future. GIS - geographic information systems – was born, and today his company is the world’s leader in this space. Jack is often asked to advise Governors on how to bring a state’s treasure trove of data into view so it can at a practical level address its challenges through understanding patterns, connections and relationship

Norman Bodek – The Godfather of Lean in the U.S. on Respect for People Jan 27, 2020

After many trips to the library in the early 1980s studying what drives productivity, Norm Bodek began taking American Executives on study missions to Japan. Now, 50 years and more than 80 study missions later, his fascination with Japanese management focused on quality and lean continues even at 87 years of age. In Japan, Norm met then translated and published in English the books of over 100 top Japanese management thinkers including Taiichi Ohno and Dr. Shigeo Shingo, made famous by their creation of the Toyota Production System. Norm’s study missions, books and conferences he ran for years under Productivity, Inc. earned him the title of the Godfather of Lean in America as he popularized such methods as Kaizen. With a passion deeply rooted in “respect for people”, one of the teachings American Professor Dr. W. Edwards Deming brought to the Japanese after World War II, Norm believes organizations still have a long way to go in fulfilling the promise that people are the most valuable asset of every organization.

Ken Jeske – Changing the Lives of Adults in Custody Jan 14, 2020

Oregon Correctional Enterprises (OCE) is one of the most admired operations of its kind in the county – and now in the world. The organization Ken runs engages adults in custody (AIC) in money-making businesses that serves to help normalize and humanize their experience in prison. Using business disciplines OCE engages 1,500 AICs and in so doing cut recidivism by 50 percent for the Oregon Department of Corrections.

Drew Erdmann – Missouri’s transformation through education Dec 31, 2019

No state has made a more substantial and broad investment in educating their people than Missouri. Meet Drew Erdmann, Governor Mike Parson’s chief operating officer and the chief advocate for transformation through education. With the Governor’s leadership and the legislatures’ full support the state is doing one thing many don’t, its investing in the people who make government work. And it’s doing what it should: delivering results in all kinds of unexpected ways.

Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel, Results Washington Dec 15, 2019

As chief of staff to then newly elected Governor Jay Inslee, Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel led the creation, launch and management of Results Washington. The effort is widely considered the best designed system for results-driven state government in the country. Mary Alice, now with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, tells the story of how the system worked to align and engage the state’s cabinet in the goals of the governor.

Mike Faust on Improving Child Safety Nov 12, 2019

A Lean expert with a background as a general manager in the aerospace industry, Mike succeeded in blending managerial science and behavioral science to the benefit of the children of Arizona. Recently named director of the Arizona Department of Child Safety, Mike and his team have achieved a 21 percent decrease in the number of children being moved into foster care, the largest such reduction in the nation.

Governor Doug Ducey and the Arizona Management System Nov 06, 2019

Governor Ducey set in motion the design and launch of his Arizona Management System by engaging his entire cabinet and policy staff in setting goals and defining measures. Five years later his efforts have succeeded in engaging employees in making improvements at every level delivering measurable results both across the agencies and deep down into services that touch the state’s customers. The Governor’s system of management is without a doubt one of the most effective in the nation.

Robert Shea, Architect of Government Performance & Results Act Oct 23, 2019

Robert Shea worked in the U.S. Senate to design a comprehensive program for improving performance for the sprawling Federal Government. Shea went on to serve in The White House's Office of Management & Budget as Associate Director for Performance Management under President George W. Bush.

Robert's inside perspective of the massive effort -- an effort that continues to thrive today -- provides some powerful insight and interesting and encouraging stories of life working with Washington's bureaucrats.

Today Robert is a partner with Grant Thornton where he runs the strategic side of the public sector practice. Robert's podcast, FedHeads, is a a great listen about the arcana of Washington.

Fariborz Pakseresht, Oregon's Director of the Department of Human Services Oct 23, 2019

Fariborz Pakseresht is an insightful leader who understands the process of transforming organizational culture. His leadership is insightful, his appreciation for data is high, and his compassion for the people his organization serves -- and the people who do the work of serving these people -- is great.

Fariborz shares the big lessons from a career of turning around complex state agencies and talks about the power of government engaging its communities to address complex human issues.

He explores the reasons people come to work in government and how to create organization that taps into their talents, passions, and experience to make a difference.

Michael J. Jordan, The State Chief Operating Officer Oct 23, 2019

Business has a single measure of success: Profits. But a city or state has dozens of critical measures and so managing government is complex work. The Chief Operating Officer is emerging as a key new role focused on efficient and effective government. The notion that 30-60 agency heads all report to the governor or mayor is absurd.

Michael J. Jordan pioneered the state COO role in Oregon, and he clearly articulates the role and why it is so different that the Chief of Staff -- and so essential.

Governor Martin O'Malley PART TWO Oct 23, 2019

Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley shares structure, stories, and lessons about what he sees as the answer to a crisis in western democracy. In this episode he talks about the kind of people he looked to bring onto his team -- and his belief in life-long learning and curiosity.

O'Malley is an inspiration and his track record is impressive.

He's fun, energetic and full of wisdom based in experience.

Governor Martin O'Malley PART ONE Oct 23, 2019

Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley leveraged the management methods proven by NYPD to cut crime by more than half -- across all aspects of government -- first as mayor of Baltimore and then as governor. His pioneering efforts developing CitiStat and StateStat redefined what's possible in measurable results. No governor in modern times has a more impressive set of measurable results.

Governor O'Malley's new book, Smarter Government, How to Govern for Result in the Information Age, tells the story of how he reinvented government.

In this podcast you'll get up close and personal with the 2016 presidential candidate -- a man who has travelled the world teaching his brand of leadership at a time when democracy is at risk for falling short of delivering results that matter to citizens.

Trailer Oct 23, 2019

The New Bureaucrat, is a serious – and sometimes not so serious – look at the inside job of transforming government. You will meet and get to know people, people like you, people who are changing government. I will get inside their heads to understand what they are thinking. And I will get inside their hearts, and understand what drives them.

We’ll talk about the struggle, the obstacles, the commitment it takes to persist. The New Bureaucrats have one thing in common, they are focused on results. Demonstrable, measurable results. Results that matter. And all of them are successfully applying business concepts, tools, and methods -- to the work government.

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