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In many ways my whole life has been preparation for this. In grad school (public affairs) I said I wanted to work in the public interest, but in the private sector. Many of my classmates thought I was nuts. Maybe so, but I had the chance to pursue work in the "sweet spot" where public and private interests coincide at both Cummins Engine and the Dayton Hudson Corporation, now Target, (where I also served as Chair of the Dayton Hudson Foundation.) In both places I learned the importance of institutions looking outside themselves and supporting the communities that sustain them. I also learned, when the Dart Corp. tried to take over Dayton Hudson, that any organization that delivers great results to those it serves can expect support from them in return - Dart lost!
In between I was a deputy Mayor in Minneapolis and got involved in two political campaigns in the mid 1970s. In both cases my candidate lost. Losing isn't fun. Especially when the 'bad guys' win. But I learned that while democracy can be rough, in the long run citizens know right from wrong. (The bad guys ultimately lost - badly!)
Later I left my corporate job to become Commissioner of Finance for the State of Minnesota. What a ride! We faced a budget deficit, a collapse in the national economy and an election. Being Commissioner taught me what is possible, hard and so necessary about government reform. In particular, it taught me the critical importance of focusing on results and how to get more and better ones. I also learned the incredible power of bureaucratic systems that make doing things right more important than doing the right things.
After leaving state government, we started PSG. We wanted PSG to be an engine for innovation in government. Well, we got our chance. In 1993 we took on the challenge of running the Minneapolis Public Schools; I served as Superintendent. Our job was to turn around the performance of this 50,000-student system. We did it and we learned hundreds of lessons on politics, strategy and leadership (elsewhere on our web site is an article describing some of these lessons.) One of the most important came from a 4th grader named Andernetta. In response to a question about leadership she said, "A leader is someone who changes things to make things better." She got it right - and she set a high standard that I have been using ever since.
In the last several years my primary focus has been on governments that are broke and broken. Broke in that they face seemingly permanent financial problems and broken in that they have lost the confidence of the citizens they serve. Business as usual will not solve either of these problems. It will take the relentless pursuit of ways to deliver more and better results at the price citizens are willing to pay in taxes, fees, or charges.
My work has allowed me to help redesign the Department of Transportation and the Statewide Accounting System for New York State, the child welfare system in Iowa, and the budget systems in Spokane, WA; Multnomah County (Portland), OR; Snohomish County (Everett), WA; and the states of Iowa, Michigan and Washington. These budget systems are a dramatic departure from business as usual. First, they recognize that there is a price of government that citizens are willing to pay - and that it has not changed much in the past 30 years. Second, they challenge governments to use that price (their budget) to buy results that matter most to citizens. By tying money to results, these budgets increase accountability and citizen confidence by keeping what works and fixing or replacing what does not.
We first created this new approach to budgeting for the State of Washington. I was excited when that new budget process was named a finalist for Harvard's Innovation in Government Awards. Details about the process and its results are recounted in our book The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis which I wrote with my business partner David Osborne (who also co-authored Reinventing Government).
In 2006 I took a year off and ran for Governor of Minnesota. I ran as an Independent. What an experience! Every day I had the opportunity to put ideas about making government work in front of Minnesotans - all kinds of Minnesotans. And they loved them. Our ideas were endorsed by the major papers, including the major Hispanic paper. I did not win the election but the ideas I campaigned on are changing the political debate. I came away from that experience even more convinced that the people are way out in front in wanting change. Courageous leaders create the change that people want.
While I haven't had a neat career path, it has been rich in the learning that experience brings. Putting that experience to work in support of courageous leaders and the citizens they serve is why PSG exists. And it's fun!!! |
