Leaders Speak on Leadership and Public Service: Dr. Kathleen Merrigan and Linda Gibbs

In another installment of the Leaders Speak Series, I bring you a sampling of current government leaders and their advice on leadership and public service. What makes an effective leader? Why pursue a career in public service? Our guests offer their extended reflections on such questions.

For a decade, The Business of Government Hour has brought you leading government executives who are changing the way government does business.

The Innovation Agenda: Private Sector Action, Government Benefit

President Obama has made private sector innovation a centerpiece of the Administration’s agenda for growth and job creation.  This is a subject that has broad support across the spectrum:  citizens, businesses and governments all look to commercial activity as an economic engine; new technologies play a key role in this pursuit.  The Nation’s Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, has been a very visible leader of this activity, with frequent and recent blogs through the White House and media web sites (

From Data to Decisions III

Today’s senior managers are tempted to begin analytics programs before determining the mission-essential questions they are seeking data to answer.  Older data-based analytics efforts often grew out of the discoveries of line employees who made connections and saw patterns in data after receiving new software or hardware that helped them make sense of what they were studying.