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.