conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a book about Because, Wayne?s, Wayne with the genre: Religion & Spirituality, Religious Studies?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this book could be 'A Passion for Leadership'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first five paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A Passion for Leadership
  For subordinates, such an evaluation system encourages timidity and an unwillingness to challenge superiors or to be candid. If they just keep their heads down, they will be assured a good review and a shot at future promotions. Rocking the boat puts that future at risk.
  Although the preparation of personal performance evaluations at the CIA was not quite as skewed as in the military, the same tendencies were prevalent. Indeed, when I was deputy DCI, from time to time I was asked by senior officials to approve early retirement for an individual based on poor performance. I would call for the individual's personnel folder, and, sure enough, the performance ratings for the preceding several years were always "strong" or "outstanding." After years of failing to establish a paper trail of inadequate performance, supervisors wanted me to push someone into retirement. In such cases, I usually refused in the hope of forcing more honest appraisals. It was a forlorn hope. I encountered much the same situation at A&M, although I did ask the vice president overseeing human resources to devise a process that gave supervisors freedom to provide more substantive feedback to employees.
  Early in my CIA career, after several successive positive annual evaluations, a new boss gave me a pretty crummy report. The good news was that he gave most others in our little unit crummy reports as well. We all objected up the chain of command, and, amazingly, some months later he was fired as our branch chief. The group of us, collectively and individually, had a strong performance record, and the powers that be apparently didn't want us transferring elsewhere because of a toxic boss. I would realize in later years what an extraordinarily rare action that was.
  Evaluating performance is not only difficult but risky. A hard-ass boss who lacks objectivity can send talent flying away from an organization because of unfair appraisals. An easygoing boss can allow slackers and mediocrities to nest in a unit. And a boss who is careless with words can get you a lawsuit. I wish I could offer a way to evaluate people that isn't too hard or too easy but just right. But there isn't one. A leader probably can't do away with the formal review process, but there are several ways to mitigate its worst effects.
  Evaluating subordinates in business has its own pitfalls, and judging intangible qualities such as people skills can be as fraught with difficulty as in the public sector. But many jobs in business at least have some unambiguous performance metrics. Did the employee make his numbers or not? Did he meet the sales or revenue target? Did he meet or beat his expense allocation? Did he receive fewer customer complaints? With additional effort, I think some of these kinds of metrics can and should be applied in the public sector. No evaluation should be entirely statistical, but neither should it be entirely subjective.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: four more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Upon taking her job, a leader may have the opportunity to fill vacant senior positions. She should look for capable, independent-minded people who share her goals but are willing to give candid recommendations for how to achieve them. As should be clear by now, I believe a leader must avoid yes-men. Once a decision has been taken, though, those new colleagues should be committed to implementing it.
  A new leader will also have to decide if she needs to replace some executives. She should not be in a rush to do so. Everyone should be given a chance to prove herself. No one should be fired just so the new woman in charge can portray herself as being tough.
  At A&M, I felt there was an urgent need to send the message that a change in outlook and culture was required, and I concluded that most current senior administrators needed to go. I let a couple go pretty quickly; I told others to announce their retirement a year ahead of time so I could signal change was coming in his or her area and we could get searches under way for replacements. As I've said, I intended to reorient the entire university away from an administrator-dominant culture to one where the academic leaders dominated the decision-making process. To do that, I needed a new team of administrators.
  In some ways, as important as who occupies the senior operating positions for a leader's success is the immediate staff with which he surrounds himself. Who they are and how they conduct themselves reflect directly on him.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last four paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The question is whether new leaders, agents of change, are up to the challenge. Harry Truman once said, "Every great achievement is the story of a flaming heart." The task of reforming institutions is a difficult one. A leader's heart must be on fire with belief in what she seeks to do. Changing institutions is a battle, and she must undertake it with courage, strength, and conviction. She must believe in it before she can persuade others to believe in it. She must be prepared to put her job on the line for it if she is to ask others to risk their careers and reputations to help her.
  Woodrow Wilson wrote, "When you come into the presence of a leader of men, you know you have come into the presence of fire—that it is best not incautiously to touch that man—that there is something that makes it dangerous to cross him." The reformer must be very tough and, from time to time, ruthless. She will sometimes stand absolutely alone in pressing for change. She must hold people accountable and be prepared to remove those who are opposed or who cannot do the job. She will encounter criticism—sometimes vicious and personal—along the way. The path of the reformer of institutions is never easy and rarely downhill.
  I entered public service nearly fifty years ago because, when I was a college student, President Kennedy urged us to ask not what our country could do for us but what we could do for our country. I remained in public service because President George H. W. Bush reminded us that "public service is a noble calling." And so, especially to young people, I would paraphrase John Adams's admonition to his son, quoted earlier: If the wise and honest among you refuse to serve, others will not. And we will all be the poorer for it.
  The Nobel laureate Anatole France once wrote, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." To those who believe our institutions can be better than they are, I say, Dream. Believe. Plan. Act.