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| Bob Stone's Articles |
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The
following articles were all published in the Management Insight
column sponsored by the Kennedy School for Governing.com, the most
widely read publication for state and local government people.
Just click on the link to see the
article.
In today's column, Bob
Stone—internationally known author and speaker on ethical leadership,
leading change and reinventing government—takes us from difficult
situations in the Wild West to everyday dilemmas in public service.
Public officials would do well to circulate his guidelines on good
conduct, which appear at the end of the column.
Since the vast majority of public officials are
honest and
well-intentioned, perhaps in a future column we should address how to
identify ethical issues in advance, not after the press brings them to
our attention. After all, honest individuals will make the right
decisions as long as they recognize the implications of their actions.
—Stephen Goldsmith,
Management Insights moderator and director of the Innovations in
American Government Program at the Harvard Kennedy School
Being an ethical
boss can be trying, but
it's easy compared to being an ethical subordinate. Imagine working for
a boss like Samuel Goldwyn — arguably the world's most successful movie
producer — who famously said, "I don't want any yes-men around me. I
want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs."
Telling
the truth to the boss is the first responsibility of an ethical
subordinate. We're hired for our brains and for the ability to use
them. We're paid to give our best effort, which includes our best
thinking.
—Bob
Stone, from the article
If you are a government
leader, elected or appointed, you need to read this terrific column
from Bob Stone. It is easy for a leader to rationalize perks, which
often do, in fact, save time. Yet, where is the dividing line, both in
terms of ethics and, simply, how a decision will be perceived by
others? Bob provides some very helpful guidance.
—Stephen
Goldsmith
This week Bob Stone gets us
thinking about biases -- and what they mean for public servants. Put
another way, this topic sounds more benign but is equally difficult:
when and how do bureaucrats exercise discretion? After all, it is the
impartial application of rules that insures both fairness and
infuriating meaningless ritual over substance. When we encourage a
public official to "problem solve," how do we know that discretion is
being applied in a fair way? Bob’s column provides some clues.
—Stephen
Goldsmith
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