1 It turns out that good government, done well and an effective, skilled and well-resourced public sector matter. They matter all the time, but they matter especially in times of crisis and danger. The trouble is, if you don’t think they matter all the time and mistreat them accordingly in the way you talk about […]
Covid, climate and change – pondering the dividend
I have spent the weekend, among other things, reading a remarkable set of 12 essays from Dan Hill, currently working in Stockholm for Vinnova, the Swedish Government innovation agency. I’ve known Dan for some time since we met in Sydney while he was at Arup and we discovered a mutual friend in Richard Allan (Lord […]
Can we declare a Covid Dividend?
One of the stories of this pandemic runs something like this. A microscopic bug released from an animal market in Wuhan has, in a matter of weeks, brought the world to its knees. As a recent edition of The Economist had it, “planet closed.” Melodrama, perhaps, and a great magazine cover, but not too far […]
The 21st century public servant: take on talent II
I wrote a piece recently looking at an OECD report that proffered six attributes of future public servants in a world that is becoming more connected, complex and (sometimes) confusing. These were the six -iteration, data literacy, user centricity, curiosity, storytelling and (a personal favourite) insurgency. This time I’m looking at a couple of linked […]
More on the talent question: skills for the future public service
If there is a talent crisis in the public sector, which I think there is and about which I wrote something in a recent post you can find here, the question is begged what is the mix of talent that the public service of the future needs? It turns out that there’s a fair bit […]
Do bureaucrats care? A take on talent in the public sector
I’ve been interested in the question of talent in the public sector for some time. I think there’s something of a talent crisis across the sector, not because there isn’t enough of it or the right mix (although there are real challenges on both those fronts I suspect), but because I suspect we don’t use […]
