Friday, August 13: Certificate Ceremony: Day 20

"Leadership and Learning are indispensable to each other..."  John F. Kennedy

5 Government Tensions:
1.  Efficience vs. Equity
2.  Growth vs. Quality of Life
3.  Short-run vs. Long-run
4.  General interest vs. Special Interest
5.  Security/stability vs. Change

Thursday, August 12: Day 19

Leadership in Crisis
   Rudy Guilani

Instructor:  Hannah Riley Bowles

Key Take Aways: 

• Direct Effects of Acute Stress:  1.  Decreased ability/time to collect info.  (Result:  Narrowed attention to possibilities.)  2.  Interferes with our "inner speech".  (Result:  Reduced working memory.)  3.  Distraction by physical stress.  (Result:  Reduced working memory.)
• What can we do to help people perform better under stress:  Reliance on pattern recognition.  Practice drills/table tops. 
• Communication in crisis. 
• People are:  Experiencing fear.  Seek truth and meaning.  Sink into despair.  Reflect on better times.  Feel helplessness.  Fell alone.
• Communicate to:  Inspire.  Acknowledge gravity.  Be optimistic with a forward vision.  Share examples of other harder times.  Call people to duty.  Create a sense of unity towards and overarching objective. 
• Green Grass/Brown Grass Approach.  In good times people want to hear about the green grass (good times).  In crisis, people want to hear about where it was worse.  At 911, Rudy Guilani compared NYC to London being bombed in WWII. 

Negotiations IV
  Deeport I

Negotiations V
  Deeport II

Instructor:  Guhan Subramanian.  We did a mock negotiation, Deeport. 

Key Takeaways...
1.  Build a winning coalition.  Identify likely and possible allies and potential blockers.  Don't assume that everyone wants the deal to happen.  2.  Maintain a blocking coalition.  Determine who can block the deal.  Work to devise commitments.  3.  In general, process matters!  Note timing, caucusing and sequencing shape substance.  A big room is a dangerous place; don't go there too early.  Finally, "Think strategically but act opportunistically."  Expect to be surprised and to have to modify you initial approach.

Suggested Reading: 
On complex, multi-party deal making: New Deal making Strategies for a Competitive Marketplace.
On deal setup:  3D Negotiation
On persuasion strategies:  Negotiation Genius
On Interpersonal Tactics:  Difficult Conversation
On negotiation across cultures:  The Global Negotiator

How do you think this negotiation went based upon this letter....

Dear President of American Airlines, Eastern Airlines, American Export Airlines, Colonial Airlines, Transcontinental, and United Airlines: 


This is the last call on the matter of the runway layout at the new airport.

Thursday, February 3rd, 1944, at my office, City Hall, at 2:30 p.m. o’clock, come prepared to make any suggestion or forever hold your peace. I have heard some grousing about the present layout which I know is not justified. If you have any cockeyed ideas on tangent runways that have not been tried out, save them for some other time.

I am willing to hear constructive criticism and to receive helpful suggestions. I cannot compete against white tablecloths and soft pencils. Everyone who gets two drinks under his belt is now designing runway layouts on restaurant tables.

We will have a map here, our consulting engineer will be here, and I expect to have the matter finally, completely and definitely settled.

You may bring anyone you desire from your engineering, technical and piloting staff. Lawyers cannot contribute anything. This is not a legal matter.

Very truly yours,


F. H. LaGuardia, Mayor



Farewell Dinner @ Harvard's Faculty Club

Wednesday, August 11: Day 18

Transformational Leadership
   NAACP, Gandhi's Salt March

  Instructor:  Hannah Riley Bowles

  Key Take Aways: 

• Gandhi Salt March.  Protest against the British salt tax in colonial India which began with the Salt March to Dandi on March 12, 1930.  Very, very powerful.  It played to 2 strengths...Duration/Speed.  The march was planned to take weeks to complete.  This allowed the march to gain momentum and allow the foreign press to get to India to see the event (think this was 1930 and time/speed was much different.)  I think the powerful picture were critical in making this successful.  Over the weeks the number of people marching continued to grow.   Simplicity.  Taxing of salt.  Salt is such a basic need--everyone can relate to.  It made the British appear greedy taxing a poor country on a basic need.    
• John Kotter's 8 Steps to Transforming Your Organization.  1.  Establish a Sense of Urgency.  2.  Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition.   3.  Create a Vision and Strategies for Change.  4. Communicate Vision and Lead by Example.  5.  Empower Others to Act to Fulfill Vision.  6.  Plan for and Create Visible, Short-term Wins.  7.  Leverage Progress for More Change.  8.  Institutionalize New Approaches.  Leading Change by John Kotter is a great book!
• Elements of transformational leadership:  Charisma, Optimism/Excitement, New Perspective & Mentoring. 

Negotiations III
   Negotiating with the Govt.  Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Wachovia

Instructor:  Guhan Subramanian

Key Take Away: 

• Set up Deal.  What process will you use.  Very important is successful negotiations. 
• Types of Negotiations:  Interests, Rights, and Power.  As you move down this list, it is almost impossible to move back up the list when negotiating a deal. 

Communicating Your Message

  Instructor:  David Gergen CNN.  Worked for 4 US Presidents:  Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. 

Key Take Aways:   1.   "Get it first, but first get it right."  2.  Deadlines are a serious matter for the press.  3.  Consider:  Headline, Picture and Lead Graph when developing press releases.  4.  Anticipate tough questions and be ready with answers.  5.  Thought on adverse publicity "The higher the monkey climbs the tree, the more you see of its rear end."  6.  The government doesn't have the right to lie, it does have a right to remain silent.

Gergen thought Colin Powell, Elizabeth Dole, Mike McCurry and Donna Shala have received good press over the years.  They play straight with reporters.  They are accessible.  They speak with authority.  They treat reporters with respect.  And they combines a good sense of humor with a thick hide.   

Tuesday, August 10: Day 17

Economic Policy II

Instructor:  Roger Porter

• 3 Key Areas of Govt. Spending.  1)  Net Interest Payments.  2) Discretionary Spending. Examples:  Military, Parks, Education.  3)  Mandatory Spending.  Entitlements. Social Security, Medicare, etc.
• Mandatory Spending.  % of GDP spend:  1960...34%;  1970...41%;  1980....52%;  1990...63%; and 2000...71%. 
• Military Spending....in the 1960 we spent 10% of GDP on the military.  Now 3-4%.
• Major changes.  Need.......1.  Case for change  2.  Present a plan that  people believe will work and 3.  The plan needs to be "fair."  Fair needs to consider:
• 
  
  How do we treat current receipts? 
• 
  
  How gradually or rapidly to make the changes?
• 
  
  How broadly or narrowly do you want changes to take place?  Spread the burden?
• 
  
  Provide a series of outlet values?
• 
  
  Formulas that make adjustments automatically with trends?   

Transactional Leadership
  Negotiating Corporate Change

• Sequencing...critical and always consider!
• Deal Fatique and Deal Frustration are factors to always consider.

Negotiations II
  Fraisier:  Deal Setup, Design, and Implementation

Dinner at John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

View of Boston from JFK Museum and Library.

JFK Quote...encouraging leaders to be forward looking.  "All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."

Monday, August 9; Day 16

Leadership and  Power
  The New Proposal and  The New Initiative

Instructor:  Hannah Riley Bowles

Key Take Aways....

• Educational Philosophy....Undergrads.  Make the unfamiliar ... familiar.  Executive Level.  Make the familiar...unfamiliar (look at from a different perspective). 
• Rational behavior and social behavior.  Are not the same thing! 

Negotiations I
  Intro to Negotiations Analysis

Instructor:  Guhan Subramanian

Key Take Aways....

• Core Concepts.  When you negotiate, you need to understand three core concepts:
• BATNA.  Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement.  What will you do/get if you don't make this negotiation successful? 
• Reservation Value (aka Walk Away Amount).  The value at which you would be indifferent between entering into or not entering into an agreement.
• ZOPA.  Zone of Possible Agreement.  What are the possible agreement amounts for both parties. 

             If you think through each of these concepts before starting a negation, you will have a much better chance of success. 

• Anchoring.  A bias in which people give too much weight to the first tangible number or "evidence" and then adjust too little from that starting point.  Think about the first figure you hear when you are looking for a house, car, a piece of jewelry etc.  Make sure and give this number careful analysis. 
• Midpoint Rule.  The most likely final outcome will be the midpoint of the first offer and counter-offer. 
• Tip.  If negotiations break down....Try teaching agreement on process instead!

• Obama on Active Listening.  "The way I think about interacting with people generally is to find out what it is that they're thinking, to give them a sense of what I'm thinking, and then to try to synthesize and try to find the truth that lies between people....     My nature instinct is not to try and beat the other persona down, but rather to understand their pint of view and make sure they understand my point of view, and then see if we can find common ground." 

Economic Policy I

Instructor:  Roger Porter.

• #1 Economic Indicator is Productivity.  It is the best predictor of an economy if you can only look at one factor.  The three big influences of Productivity are (1) Investments (Physical Capital, Intellectual Capital such as R& D and Human Capital); (2)  Efficiency (Getting $, Regulatory Pressure and Tax Burden) and  (3) Competitive Process (Trade, Anti-trust). 
• Factoids.  At the time of the Civil War...about 140 years ago.  There was 0 books on Business Management, only 8 hospitals on the East Coast, Only 5 paid hospitals on East Coast, Biggest Government Service--Delivering the Mail.  Productivity in the US has increased 2% per year since the Civil War! 

Sunday, August 8; Day 15

Free Time...Relaxed and went to Boston's North End for Italian lunch.  I had fettuccine carbonara ...and it was fantastic!  It was really hot and humid in Boston.  I also went to Paul Revere's home and then decided I needed to get back to air conditioning! 

Saturday, August 7: Day 14

Free time.  Took day trip to Cape Cod and Plymouth.  Cape Code is really charming...the houses are quite small.   We went to the JFK Memorial.  I went an an exact replica of the Mayflower.  Wow is that boat small!  Also saw the Plymouth rock.  It seems odd to me that a boat would land on a rock!

Friday, July 6: Day 13

Managing Risk III

Instructor:  Malcolm Sparrow

Undoing the Knot. Likes the knot metaphor.  Risk can be assessed by picking it apart, like an adult undoes a knot.   A child tries to untangle a knot by diving right in, randomly pulling strands and often making the problem worse. An adult begins by looking at the knot, trying to understand its structure.


“First they hold it carefully, turn it this way and that, looking at the knot from each side, until they understand the structure of the thing itself. Then a plan begins to form: ‘if I loosen this strand, it will release that one, and then I’ll be able to pass this through that loop,’ and so on. If they’ve understood the structure correctly, and formed the plan based on that understanding, then the knot falls apart, and is no more.”


Think Like a Saboteur. Focusing on specific bad things such as concentrations of risk or downward trends offers the opportunity to think and act like a saboteur.  Find a vulnerability in the harm itself and remove it, or produce a scarcity which the opposing forces cannot cure.

“If it’s true that there is in fact an art to the destruction of bad things, which is different from the construction of good things, then it is surely an art that we really all ought to understand.”


Thinking About Catastrophic Risk. How do you mitigate against the extremely rare catastrophic event? Sparrow says pay close attention to near misses and other “precursor events”, much like the FAA studies planes that almost crash, but don’t.

“Dealing with catastrophic risks demands this type of systematic debriefing of near misses, precursor events, as well as disasters that might have happened elsewhere. It also demands the deliberate use of imagination, to figure out all the ways in which events, or near-events, could have been much worse., which has very few plane crashes from which to draw data.”


Companies and agencies that effectively deal with long-term risk spot tell-tale patterns of behavior early on and quickly deal with emerging problems. 

Managing Risk IV

Instructor:  Malcolm Sparrow

4 Models of Regulation:  Command and Control Regulation, Performance Based Regulation, Self-Regulation, Association Regulation. 


Ethics in Government II
  Changing Patterns of Power and the Ethics of War

Thursday, August 5; Day 12

This was the best class for the work I do... 

Managing Risk I

Managing Risk II

Instructor:  Malcolm Sparrow.

Malcolm sees his job as "Controlling Bad Things!"   Economist say there is no difference between saying I want to reduce accidents or increase safety.  Sparrow disagrees....You need to focus on reducing the risk--reducing accidents, reducing the Tax Gap, etc. !

Use the Whack-A-Mole philosophy!  Pick Important Problems...Fix them--ok to stop at 80% fixed ...And Repeat! 

Case study: 

Problem:  New Governor.  You are the Head of the Idaho Highway Patrol.  You had 904 traffic deaths last year.  The new Governor wants deaths decreased by 20% by the end of the year...and no additional funds.  What are you going to do?

Do analysis and determine your 4 biggest take aways....
A.  Weather.  Ice of roads.  83 deaths.
B.  Aggressive Stop Sign Running.  Flat geography, see for miles.  107 deaths.
C.  Teenagers at Nights.  Driving parents car.  214 deaths.
D.  Kids under 5.  Moms driving alone.  56 deaths.

What should you do?
Key:  Look for others to help you!  Pick Important Problems...Fix them!

Who to work with?
Your agency--Who are the exeperts?
Experts in Government--Idaho Dept. of Transportation, Meteorolgy Agency
Experts External to Governemtn--Media, PTA, Insurance Agencies, MADD

What did they do?

A. Weather.

--Worked with Metology Department to issue broadcast for icey weather.  Worked with PTA to get word out.

B. Aggressive Stop Sign Running.

--3 Regineered Roads.  (Idaho Department of Transportation).

--8 audtomated Ticket Machines Purchased and Installed.  Worked with Media to advertise.

--6 automated Ticket Machine boxes installed but no cameras--not enough money. 

C. Teenagers at Nights.

--Got insurance companies to pay for and advertise a "Take Keys to Bed" Campaign.  Learned about this idea from another state doing the same thing.

--Got MADD involved in campaign.

D. Kids under 5.

--Worked with hospitals for "teachable moments" on how to put kids in car seats.

Results: 

A. Weather. Ice of roads. 83 deaths.  End of Year:  22 deaths.

B. Aggressive Stop Sign Running. 107 deaths.  End of Year: 41 deaths.

C. Teenagers at Nights. 214 deaths.  End of Year: 71deaths.
D. Kids under 5. 56 deaths.  End of Year: 97 deaths.

Other Thoughs

• GPRA--Government Performance and Results Act.  1993.  New performance reporting at Federal Government.
• Adhoc Working Groups to Solve these problems is best approach per Sparrow.
• Annual reports need to change.  Need to be short stories of results that work!

Ethics in Government I
  Changing Patterns of Power and the Ethics of War

Key Take Aways:  We had a priest come and talk about the ethics of war and what a "just war" is.  Very interesting...and something I had not done a lot of thinking about.  This was not true for many in our class.  We have 6 Generals in the Class and one Senator from Ireland! 

Wednesday, August 4: Day 11

Policy Development V
  Keeping a Campaign Promise - Bush

Instructor Roger Porter

Key Take Aways...

• When considering options, always consider the "status quo."
• President's approval ratings...They always go down over time in office.

Photo:  John Harvard Statue.  It is considered good luck to rub his shoe!

Policy Development VI
  Cleaning Up Big Dirties

Instructor Roger Porter

Key Take Aways....

• Many hands.  "Policy/legislation is always the product of many hands."
• Consider.  Before developing policy/legislation always consider:
• Substantive Reality  What is the history of the issue?  What is current impact?  Current knowledge on issue? 
• Political Reality:  What can you get others to agree to?

Political Managment V
  Inran Contra:  "Telling the Boss He's Wrong"

Instructor:  Phil Heymann

Key Take Aways....

• Options.  What to do when you don't get the alternative/reaction you wanted....Pursuade, Change the Proposal, Time the Proposal differently, Marshall your influence, Change the Situation, Build a Coalition, Change the View of a Supporter, and Quit. 
• Key:  Keep Talking about the issue.
• Maturity.  Be mature enoguht to talk through key issues....even the hard ones!

Tuesday, August 3: Day 10

Political Management IV
  Politics of a Covert Action

Instructor: Phil Heyamn

Key Take Aways...

• Time.  Make time for yourself to work on important issues.  This is done too seldom. 

Policy Development IV
  Clinton Health care Proposal

   Instructor:  Roger Porter. 

    Key Take Aways....

• Factoids.  We started the session talking about using "factoids" to kick off meetings.  Here are a few ones we discussed. 
• Jimmy Carter was the first US President to be born in a hospital.  Today, 99% of babies are born in a hospital.
• CIA folks state the best fact to have if you want to understand the stability of a country is infant mortality rate.  When infant mortality rate goes up, so does political instability.
• In 1915, 99 babies died in first year of their life  vs. in 2010, 6.4 babies die per 1,000 live births.
• Issues.  Three types of issues.  (1)  Mandate.  Something you must take on.  (2)  Maturing.  Something that is becoming more important as time passes.  (3)  Crisis.  Failure to act now ill result in a deteriorating situation.  You need to work on 1 and 3...but 2 is your choice.  Understand what type of issue that you are addressing. 
• Anticipate, Anticipate, Anticipate.  Roger's tip for leaders!

General Petraeus

Implementing Strategy IV
  The Accidental Statesman:  General Petraeus. 

In 2003, Petraeus lead the rebuilding of Iraq after Gulf War in the City of Mosul, Iraq.  He had three goals:  Provide a secure environment, restore basic life services, and facilitate a return to normalcy.  He stressed the guiding principle of "Don't conduct an operation unless it will take more bad guys off the streets than it creates."   Interesting fact:  Barbara in our class has been part of General Petraeus' staff.  She has the utmost respect  for him and loves working for him.

 
BBQ in Courtyard
Red Sox vs. Indians Baseball....Red Sox won!

Monday, August 2: Day 9

Implementing Strategy III
   Columbia Shuttle Disaster

Instructor:  Peter Zimmerman

Key Take Aways...

• "Learn Forward".  I like this term.  Mining the past events and actions to learn for the future.
• Culture.  What is it made up of?  What the organization pays attention to, measures, role models, reward selection, and Recruitment. 
• How our brain works...in recognizing patterns.  Even if you are not looking at the patterns the brain continues to work on the problem.  In 20 minutes, 50% is correct; 12 hours, 75% correct; and after sleep and 24 hours, 84% correct. 

Political Management III
   The Case of Segregated Schools

Instructor:  Phil Heymann


Key Take Aways...

•  IRS Commissioner Role.  Per Phil, the most important thing that Americans want from their Commissioner is Independence from Politicians. 
• Law vs. Policy.  The general rule is Law trumps Policy. 

Lunch:  Talk from Tony Williams, prior Washington DC Mayor. 

Here is the quote that I loved..."It is much easier to steer a car vs. push a car."  Make sure to hire people who want to steer a car!


Policy Development III
   US and USSR Grain Agreement

Instructor:  Roger Porter

Key Take Aways...

• Here are the following items to be considered in policy development.  1.  Strategy   2.  Identification of the Issues  3.  Establishment of Priorities  4.  Mobilizing Information  5.  Developing Options  6.  Assessing of Consequences  7.  Process Control  8.  Recommendations   9.  Decisions  10.  Implementation
• "Hows" are always important.  If people are not included, they assume they were intentionally not involved. 

Saturday, July 31: Day 7

Policy Development II
  Three Organizational Models

Key Take Aways...

• People follow leaders.  Great video.  Candid Camera Prank http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/710170/
• Brain functions.  The brain waves to "look back" are the same ones we use to "look forward." The brain uses what we've learned in the past to help us predict what we will see in the future.  It causes a bias--we will expect what we've seen in the past.  For example, the CIA thinking Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before so he will have them again. 
• Most effective ways to learn something.  Here is the order of most effective learning techniques from most effective to least effective--Experience, Emotion, Knowledge, Intuition, Conscious Thought and then Language. 
• Tip from Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense (from Dave at DOD) regarding working with press.  Get to the press early, and always be ready with an accountability step. 

Implementing Strategy II
  GE Talent Machine
  Making of a CEO ALCOA

Key Take Aways...

• People matter a lot!  Per Jack Welch...Nothing can be accomplished without people.  They are your strategic leverage.  Jack would spend 40% of his time on HR issues.

People

Guided Tour of Boston
Dinner:  Top of the Hub

Photo:  Me at Prudential Building.  Location of Top of the Hub.

Thursday, July 29: Day 5

Political Management I
  CIA:  The Aldrich Ames Spy Case
     Summary:  In 1994, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.  He was paid over $2 million dollars from Russia. The CIA director James Woolsey decided that no one in the CIA would be dismissed or demoted at the agency and there was a "huge uproar" in Congress. "Some have clamored for heads to roll in order that we could say that heads have rolled," Woolsey declared. "Sorry, that's not my way." Woolsey was forced to resign.  Click here for the Wikipedia summary. 

Instructor:  Phil Heyman

Key Take Aways:

• How to evaluate what an agency/department can work on?  There are 3 factors to consider.  1)  What capability does your organization have?  What is the skill set of your organization.  2)  What do you have external support to do?  What does the legislators support?  Board?  Governor?  and 3)  What value does your organization provide?  What are taxpayers willing to pay for?  Where 3 these abilities overlap--this will determine the issue you will be able to achieve. 
• Culture at the CIA.  We have two students in the class who are at the CIA.  They were able to share the "inside perspective" on the Aldrich Ames case.  They talked about the importance of trust in their organization.  To get hired, you must go through extensive background checks, you have regular polygraph tests, you may be asked to be on a covert mission which puts your life on the line.  Due to this trust, they believe they will have to fire people. There is also a concern that if you fire someone and they are upset, they might try and sell US secrets.  The discussion caused me to have 2 thoughts--one positive and one negative--Positive:  With high trust, the team could accomplish a lot because they would be spending their energy working trying to accomplish their goal.   Negative:  This trust may cause very few "checks and balances." Given the type of work that the CIA does, I am not sure this is a good thing.   

Sept 2010 Feedback from a friend:  Trust does not preclude nor should it ever preclude checks and balances. Checks and balances are built in the institutional processes of organizations. Trust promotes open and honest dialogue and the opportunity to discuss difficult topics and differing viewpoints. Trust promotes moving in a common direction and vision. Leaders that are trusted can make mistakes and quickly rebound. It is the absence of trust that creates subversive organizations- organizations where it is every man for themselves- all about me thinking and doing the expedient for the good of the few rather than looking at the common good.



















Organizational Design II
  NYC Transit Authority

Instructor: Steve Kelman

•   That's the rule!  When asking people why they do something they often say that is the rule.  If you send them back to find the rule, only about 20% of the time can they find a rule. 
• "You cannot give an official power to do right without at the same time giving him power to do wrong."  Theodore Roosevelt.

Implementing Strategy I
  Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India

Aravind Eye Care Hospital is an optalmological hospital with several locations in India. It was founded by Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy.  Aravind keeps its surgical equipment in operation 24 hours a day, which reduces the cost-per-surgery. Also, doctors focus only on performing surgery, and nurses handle pre-op and post-op care, which increases doctor productivity. These actions allow the company to give away free surgeries to the poor while still earning a profit. The hospital performs high-volume and high-quality eye surgeries inexpensively to address the needs of the 12 million blind people in India.

Instructor:  Peter Zimmerman

• Start with Zero Cost in Mind.  Arun, one of the students from India shared that whatever project he works on they have a technique they use called "start with zero cost in mind."  They first try to think of ways of accomplishing what they want with "no cost."  This has caused them to consider volunteers, NGOs, students, etc.  I think in the US, this is a good place to start our thinking too! 
• What strategies can your organization implement?  Here are the 3 primary factors to consider...
• What is your organizational purpose? What value does the public think you provide?
• What do you have the operational capacity to do?
• What do you have the legislative support to do?

Sunday, August 1: Day 8

Free Time

Took Grayline's Fabulous Newport Tour.  We toured two homes--The Breakers and the Marble House.  It is shocking the opulence of these summer "cottages" that were used for a few weeks in the summer by the rich of New York during the Gilded Age. 


Breakers -- 70 rooms, 130+k square foot house on 11 acres of ocean front land.  This home was owned by the Vanderbilt's.

The Marble House -- Another Vanderbilt home.  Build in 1892.

Drive along 10 mile drive and see the other summer "cottages" in the area.  There was also a park for kite flying.

This is an amazing place...and some place I want to return to!

Friday, July 30: Day 6

Policy Development I
  Family Assistance Plan

Instructor:  Roger Porter

Key Reminder: 

• Bosses Don't Like Surprises! 
• Funny line from the day.  Roger Porter talking about working in the White House in the Fellow program.  He was assigned the task of taking notes.  As he was leaving the meeting, someone said, "I cannot wait to get the notes from this meeting and see what we decided!" 
• Thinking Strategically. Our founding fathers we big strategic thinkers.  Washington used the word posterity 9 times in one document.  Jefferson talked about the thousandth generation.  Question:  How will the US compete with China in the future when there culture takes such a strategic view of any problem and politicians are not elected?

Organizational Design III
  Space Shuttle Challenger

Instructor:  Steve Kelman...his blog www.fcw.com/blogs/thelectern

• We live in a very internationally influenced world.  Steve, our instructor went around the room to talk about the world wide influence that impacted the US space program.  I found this fascinating.  I would have only looked to USSR, Europe and US...but the influences are not that limiting.

Political Management II
  Fraud Abuse and Waste at Health, Education and Welfare Department

Instructor:  Phil Heymann

Key Take Aways:

•  What makes good newspaper articles?  Simple answer stories that take won Waste, Fraud, Abuse, Corruption, and Overreaching.  Take any newspaper and look at the headlines on the first page...and there will always be at least a couple of articles having to do with these topics.  For example, the Sac Bee from Sunday, August 1 had the following 2 articles on page 1....California Prisoners' Rights Often Trampled...Sacramento police officer under investigation for falsified DUI reports, DA says...Will Schwarzenegger's high-stakes gamble on furloughs work?.  If you want to try this out, here is a link to the front page of the NY Times.  Click here.
• What makes those articles that we talk about your years to come?  Why are we still talking about the $800 toilet seat?  Water boarding? Failed DMV efforts?  Short answer, each government agency has a vulnerability area (an underlying belief that the story "plays" to).  For example, the military one of our country largest expenditures, we worry that they are wasting taxpayer's money.   FBI: Violation of  People's Rights (note story above Sacramento police officer under investigation for falsified DUI reports, DA say); DOJ:  Partisionship: CIA Unaccountability...since the agency gets to break the law; IRS: Unfair Audit Selection and DMV: Inefficiency. 

Wednesday, July 28: Day 4

Managing for Results III
   Performance Management in D.C.

Instructor: Steve Kelman

Key Take Away: 

• Most Common Performance Measure.  Profit/loss.
• Reference website:  www.hks.harvard.edu/visions/performance_management/index.htm

Leadership and Crisis IV

   Mt. Everest

Instructor: Dutch Leonard

Key Take Aways: 

• Errors people typically make under stress. (Called cognitive bias). 1. Give too much weigh to your own experiences. 2. Think we have more experience than we do. 3. Overconfident in your own ability. 4. Failure to notice "dis confirming evidence." i.e. you do not notice clues that are around you. 5. You become more committed to your mindset, the current strategy that you are working on or belief you have. 6. Your personal goals/image becomes part of the objective. These principles were demonstrated in two case studies -- Three Mile Island and Climbing Mount Everest. If you are involved in a stressful situation, you need to find a way to ask yourself are you exhibiting these behaviors....especially...am I do committed to the current mindset. In 3 Mile Island--they were so convinced that the error lights were wrong, they did not give the lights and the feedback they were getting the significance they should have.

Organizational Design I
   Forest Service

Instructor: Steve Kelman

Key Take Away:

• Why do we have rules/regulations, etc. 4 reasons: 1) Knowledge development and dissemination. 2) Control. 3) Coordination. 4) Motivation.

Tuesday, July 27: Day 3

Leadership and Crisis III
  Three Mile Island

Leadership and Crisis IV
  Three Mile Island

Instructor:  Dutch Leonard

Key Take Aways:

• Dealing with the Press.  The three rules:  1.  Say what you know and the basis of the knowledge.  For example, BP just informed us that 1 thousand gallons of are being leaked in the Gulf of Mexico.  Never speculate...80% of the first information you get on an incident or problem is wrong.    The press will try and get you to talk.  Don't.  State only what you know.  2.  Say what you are doing.  3.  Say what other should do (both the public and other agencies). 
• Spectrum on Events:  Normal Operations, Minor Errors, Routine Emergency, Crisis.  Routine Emergency is something like a bomb threat, house file, etc.  They are events that do happen regularly.  Routine Emergency typically can be handled with a set of checklist.  For something to be a crisis, it must be novel, very large scale, high stake, complex, and unprecedented.  When you are in a crisis mode, you need to create a new approach, innovate and improvise.  This can also be thought of as "Learn going forward." 
• Disaster Recovery.  There are 5 areas in your  portfolio that you can spend your time. 
• Pre-Event
• Advance Mitigations.
• Preparation of Response
• Preparation of Recovery
• Event
• Response
• Post-Event
• Recovery

To mature our efforts... spend your time in the pre-event activities.  Tip:  Spend time thinking deeply about advanced mitigation that could really help.  For example, Ventura County made building code changes that reduce fire risk. 

• Disaster Recovery Tips. 
• How to get money for Disaster Recovery.  Come up with proposals for work that needs to be done.  Wait until there is a disaster at your location or in the media.  Present your request as quickly after the event as possible. 
• 3 reasons that most people don't spend enough time/energy on Disaster Recovery.  1)  The event is in the future and may never happen.  2) Not something that needs to be dealt with now.  Can be delayed.  3)  It is a really horrible thing and people just don't want to think about it. 

Awesome Event.  Brian Meenan (2 star General) one of the students was in the FAA headquarters on 911.  When the decision to shut down the airspace it was the first time that had ever been done in US history. There was not a checklist of what to do.  But they were able to use other already established checklists with slight modifications  (such as order for planes to start flying in case of a Russian Attack).  It was very interesting.  


Managing for Results II
  COMPSTAT Assertive Policing, NYC

Instructor:  Steve Kelman

No take aways.

Monday, July 26: Day 2

Group Photo

68 Students...World Wide Participation

Asia:  Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Thailand

Europe:  Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland

Euro Asia:  Kazakhstan, Cyprus

Africa:  Nigeria

Australia

Americas:  USA, Barbados

Middle East:  United Arab Emirates

Varied Backgrounds

Irish Senator...Mark Daly

Mayor of Cities--China and India

6 Generals (one of the Generals was a former Thunderbird Pilot) and 1 Admiral

4 CIOs

2 CPAs

2 Legislative Staffers

NASA Manager

EU Staff

CIA, FBI

Department of Defense Staff

Leadership and Crisis I
  Shackleton in Antarctica

Leadership and Crisis II
  Shackleton in Antarctica

Instructor:  Dutch Leonard.  Awesome!

Very short summary of case study:  Ernest Shackleton was a British Explorer who sailed to the South Pole and wanted to be the first man to trek across the South Pole.  Disaster struck his 1914 expedition when its ship, Endurance, was trapped in pack ice and slowly crushed, before the ship could be landed. The ship crew survived 16 months living on an iceberg and a small island.  His leadership during this period of isolation was excellent and many lessons of leadership which can be learned.

Take aways:

• Be very clear on your mission/vision.  After his ship sunk, his mission was then to get home safely.  Great quote, "The most common form of human stupidity is forgetting what we are trying to accomplish."  Friedrich Nietzsche (German philosopher and classical philologist.)  Tip:  When meetings get off track, great question to ask is "what exactly are we trying to accomplish?"  For example, how is this helping kids be better educated. 
• Process for evaluating next step is key in crisis.  The following is the process used (generally).  0.  Establish values/goals/priorities.  1.  Notice Changing circumstance  2.  Accept Change.  3.  Design new approach.  4A.  Execute new approach.  4B.  Abandon the old approach.  (AKA you need to relinquish the hold the past has on you).  5.  Evaluate/access.  Repeat.  This process is known by many names:
• Strategic Planning Process.
• OODA.  Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.  John Boyd, Military Strategist.
• Incident Action Planning Process (IAPP)
• Best decisions evaluate multiple alternatives.  Human nature will want us to identify a way to do something and "go for it."  Be willing to take tame to evaluate three solutions and you will come up with much better decision. 

Performance Measurement for Results
  ATT Universal

Instructor:  Steve Kelman
Note, he used overhead projector & slides!  I was and still am shocked. Is this 1995?

Take aways:

• Australia and New Zealand got started with Performance Measures early.  They are a good place to look for benchmarks. 
• 4 Key Ways of Using Performance Measures:
• Performance Improvement (Learning, Feedback, Diagnosis)
• Motivation/Urgency
• Focus/Accountability
• Allocation of Resources

Sunday, July 25: Registration; Day 1

We checked into our Grad Student Apartments between 2-4 today.  These are apartments not dorm rooms.  A lot more room the the dorm room I had at Cal Poly.  My roommate is Cecile Humphrey who is from the Cabinet in Barbados.  She is very nice and I feel very lucky. 

Roger Porter kicked off our Orientation Session.  He encouraged us to capture 3 ideas from each session.  I will try and share these key ideas in the blog over the 3 week session.  The session is 68 people--45 from the US and 13 outside the US.  My 3 take aways from his session were:

• Just like at work--all of you have a work ethic.  At your time at Harvard, have a learning ethic!
• As we do case studies,  look for what was positive in the experience and what was negative.
• Roger worked in the Reagan White House.  His observation of Reagan.  He was the most comfortable man "in his own skin" of anyone he has every met!

A typical day at "school" will be:

• 7 am Breakfast
• 8 am Study Group
• 9 am Lesson 1
• 11 am Lesson 2
• 12:30 pm Lunch
• 2:00 Lesson 3
• 3:30 Reading Time
• 6:00 Dinner
• 7:30 "Free Time"  -- AKA finish up your reading time!

Harvard Senior Leaders in Government

July 25 - August 13, 2010 I will be attending Harvard's Senior Leadership in Government Course.  I have created this blog to share that experience with others.  If interested, check back to hear about what I am doing and learning!