Getting Things Done with Courage and Conviction: Principles and Cases in Public Management

The cases in Getting Things Done with Courage and Conviction are extracted from the experiences of Dwight Ink, whose career has spanned more than 50 years (and counting…), including key roles in helping advance important initiatives of seven presidents. Each of the nine cases provides insights into key government operations that are relevant to public administrators today. Each chapter highlights enduring issues in public administration theory and practice (e.g., political control of the bureaucracy, ethical procurement and personnel processes, intergovernmental management, several others). The timelessness of the strategies and the authors' strong desire to motivate the best and brightest to careers in public service compelled them to produce this book as both a management guidebook and a source of encouragement and inspiration for getting things done today. "This book lays out a set of public management principles and strategies for twenty-first century leaders and managers-extracted from the personal values and codes of conduct that Dwight Ink embodied throughout his highly distinguished government career-that are more salient and vital than ever. Any student of government and public management and any practitioner or individual contemplating public service should digest these principles and absorb the cases in which they are illustrated in this book, based on Dwight Ink's service to seven presidents. Together with their practitioner-academic perspectives, Dwight Ink and Kurt Thurmaier help us to see a pathway back and approach to 'getting things done' in the public sector 'with courage and conviction,' which is urgently needed today." -Carolyn J. Heinrich Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Public Policy, Education and Economics Vanderbilt University Read more