Description
Book SynopsisTo understand the challenges of political leadership and how top executivessucceed in accomplishing an Administration's objectives, business-in-governmentexperts Paul R. Lawrence and Mark A. Abramson present the findingsof a four-year study of top political appointees in the Obama Administration.The 42 participantsDeputy Secretaries and agency headsprovide casestudies of how each approaches the management challenges and achievesthe mission of their organization. Full of behind-the-scenes insights and practical advice from government politicalexecutives on how they face management challenges in real time, WhatGovernment Does: How Political Executives Manage offers indispensable insightsto current and prospective political appointees and everyone interestedin understanding how leaders make government agencies more effective.The new book, a follow-up to their previous book, Paths to Making aDifference: Leading in Government, presents an insightful framework of whatgovernment does. Instead
Trade Review[T]his [is an] important and admirably well-crafted volume. Every American has a stake in what government does and how political executives manage; few Americans, however, have enough of an interest to read through a granular-level, interview-based book on the subject. But more of us should, and I would be delighted . . . to see this fine book top the best-seller lists. . . .With every new administration over the years to come there will be a fresh crop of political executives in dire need—whether they know it or not—of the lessons, cautionary tales, and pep talks from their predecessors assembled here. The rest of us can treasure it now as a reminder of how exquisitely important these jobs are; how lucky we are to have such talented, patriotic people taking up these brutally hard and often thankless tasks; and what a pickle we will be in if public leaders of this caliber ever stop raising their hands to do the difficult work on which our welfare depends. * Washington Monthly *
Table of ContentsChapter One: Introduction Chapter Two: The Job of the Political Executive: Running an Agency Chapter Three: The Deputy Secretaries Chapter Four: The Producers Chapter Five: The Regulators Chapter Six: The Infrastructors Chapter Seven: The Scientists Chapter Eight: The Collaborators Appendix: Dates of Interviews Index of Profiles by Organization References About the Authors and Contributors
