Nurturing the Habit of Innovating

Dr. Ben Bensaou, author of Built to Innovate joined me on The Business of Government Hour to discuss insights from his book and explore the strategic imperative for today’s leaders to make innovating an organizational habit.

NEW REPORT: Adopting Agile in State and Local Governments

Agile emerged initially as a set of values and principles for software development formalized in 2001 with the Agile Manifesto. For two decades, it helped revolutionize software development. Today, Agile approaches have been adapted to government services beyond software development, offering a new way of thinking and delivering in areas such as project management, policymaking, human resources, and procurement. 

Weekly Roundup: October 4-8, 2021

The Post-COVID Civil Service:  Dr. Donald F. Kettl joins discusses how federal service can change after the pandemic. The pandemic has brought to light many systemic problems in American governance and the civil service. Like other major disasters, the pandemic presents an opportunity to reshape the future of work in the federal service. Looking to the big lessons for COVID and beyond -- turns out that the quality of people in government matters most.

Weekly Roundup: September 27-October 1, 2021

Working Together as a Federal IT Enterprise to Deliver for the American People. In a new blog post, Federal CIO Clare Martorana discusses how the pandemic forced us to re-evaluate the way we operate across government and ask how we can serve our citizens faster and more securely.

Weekly Roundup: September 20-24, 2021

CISA Releases Draft Guidance for Agencies’ Transition to IPv6. Federal agencies are on the clock to transition networks and systems to using Internet Protocol version 6, and the Trusted Internet Connection program office released draft guidance to help them make the move securely. The last pools of addresses for the previous standard—IPv4—were exhausted in 2011.

Weekly Roundup: September 13-17, 2021

OMB Expands Customer Experience Guidance for Federal Agencies. In its annual update to Circular A-11, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) made significant changes to section 280, which focuses on customer experience (CX) and service delivery. The new changes provide a new expanded definition for customer experience – one that includes equity and designates CX as a priority instead of a nice-to-have.

Weekly Roundup: September 6-10, 2021

A Tuesday like no other: Feds recall shock of 9/1. Two decades ago, what began as an unremarkable Tuesday for federal employees quickly changed into an historic event like never before, and the country was never the same. Every agency was affected by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and their workers impacted both directly and indirectly. Federal News Network asked readers who were in federal agencies that day to share their experiences of 9/11, in honor of the 20th anniversary on Saturday.

Weekly Roundup: August 30-September 3, 2021

House infrastructure bill includes over $3 billion for federal tech. Under an amendment from Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the Technology Modernization Fund could see another $1 billion in capitalization. The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to approve over $3 billion for federal tech initiatives, including another billion-dollar investment into the Technology Modernization Fund.

What Leaders can Learn from Artists

In her book, Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future, Margaret Heffernan noted that the “work of artists endures because they dare to imagine what they can’t see and allow their minds to leave predetermined paths.” I had the pleasure of interviewing Margaret on The Business of Government Hour to discuss her book and the many cogent leadership insights it offers. She counsels that though we may not all be artists we need their independence and stamina.

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Leadership Fellow & Host, The Business of Government Hour
IBM Center for The Business of Government
600 14th Street, NW Second Floor
Washington, DC 20005
United States

Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.

Michael leads the IBM Center for The Business of Government's leadership research. As the Center’s Leadership Fellow, his work is at the nexus of the Center’s mission – connecting research to practice. My work at that the Center complements frontline experience of actual government executives with practical insights from thought leaders who produce Center reports – merging real-world experience with practical scholarship. The purpose is not to offer definitive solutions to the many management challenges facing executives, but to provide a resource from which to draw practical, actionable recommendations on how best to confront such issues. Michael also hosts and produces the IBM Center’s The Business of Government Hour. He has interviewed and profiled hundreds of senior government executives from all levels of government as well as recognized thought leaders focusing on a range of public management issues and trends. Over the last four years, Michael has expanded both the show’s format and reach – now broadcasting informational and educational conversations with dedicated public servants on two radio stations five times a week and anywhere at anytime over the web and at iTunes. Michael is also the managing editor of The Business of Government magazine, with a targeted audience of close to 14,000 government and non-government professionals. Additionally, he manages the Center’s bi-annual proposal review process that awards stipends to independent, third party researchers tackling a wide range of public management issues.

Prior to joining the Center, Michael worked as a senior managing consultant with IBM GBS (Global Business Services) and as a principle consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Washington Consulting Practice (WCP). He led projects in the private and federal civilian sectors including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, FEMA, and the Veterans Health Administration. Before entering consulting, he worked in the private sector as product development manager at a New York City based risk financing firm.

Since 2003, Mr. Keegan has been a reviewer for Association of Government Accountant’s Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR)© program, keeping abreast of the most recent developments in authoritative standards affecting federal accounting, financial reporting and performance measurement. He is also a member of APPAM, the NYU Alumni Association, and the Data Center & Cloud Talent, USA. He holds masters in public administration and management from New York University and was the founder of its DC alumni group as well as previous treasurer of the NYU graduate school’s alumni board.