Ignite the Promise

Innovation Needed for Federal Government Chiefs

Managing effectively in this dynamic global environment requires new thinking, creative thinking, and the willingness to change and to innovate.  In my mind everyone needs to be concerned about creativity and innovation.  And in order to foster creativity, we need more students to stay in school and graduate from college and that, in itself, is a challenge and a topic for another time. 

The Government Executive (GovExec) issue of June 15, 2011 has dedicated most of its pages (with several authors) on the need to innovate within several important organizational areas within our government.  The article is about the government's top leaders, the Chiefs, and why they must innovate, e.g., Chief Information officer (for open government), Chief financial officer (to modernize internal controls), Chief human capital officer (for hiring reform), and Chief information security officer (to monitor/respond to threats).

We citizens who view the government from the outside are often not aware of the efforts that are taken to make more effective and efficient the many areas within government that affect our country's safety and successes.  This article helps give perspective to us that our government is serious about responding to major challenges to effective government.

The dominant theme throughout the articles was that the challenges are many and growing!  There is no real choice but to become more creative and innovative.  Not doing so will lead us on a path of organizational road block, mediocrity and danger to our quality of life.  The major challenge is that all reforms will be difficult because they will require changes in the way work is done.  Many of us accept change reluctantly!  Increased congressional oversight has also aggrevated the situation with deadline pressures.  There are also demands from the White House and the American public to 'get things done.'  The GovExec editor lists the needs for innovation for each Chief.

Chief Information Officers are moving operations into the Internet cloud.  Yet, what can be done with only $8 million allocated for eGovernment?  For CIOs, it is estimated that over 30% of the desired changes will be very difficult to effect. 

Chief Financial Officers are working on internal controls to crack down on improper payments that have reached over $50 billion.  For CFOs, over 50% of the desired changes will be very difficult.

Chief Human Capital Officers are partnering with managers to meet workforce needs but it is reported that 46% of HR staffs lack the skills to support new governmentwide hiring.  For CHCOs, greater than 44% of desired changes will be very difficult to make.

Chief Information Security Officers have a duo challenge -- to fend off cyber attacks and to address the increasing use of mobile devices.  One challenge is that all security measures have a short half-life and will ultimately fail.  For CISOs, nearly 50% of the desired changes will be very difficult to make.

In a nutshell, the needed changes will take more than a business-as-usual approach.  It will require not only sustained funding and a focused effort in creative thinking and operational innovation, but also patience on the part of us citizens!

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Destruction needed before Recovery!

There is a natural cycle of living things where death or destruction must occur before there is renewed life.  Forests renew themselves aggressively each time there is a forest fire.  Even without a careless match, lightning strikes cause fires to help forests renew themselves. 

Throughout life, we have many examples illustrating the point that without pain and suffering, we are not as resilient nor appreciative of our situations.  For those who exercise and work out, they know that in order to gain muscular strength, there needs to be sufficient exertion to cause a 'burn' (muscle destruction) in order to gain new and stronger muscles. My pain is my future gain!

If a goal is too easy, we may not feel it worthwhile, or of much value.  We tend to be more careful with possessions if we worked to pay for them than if they were gifted to us.  Inherently, we really need to work for what we get.  We value more what required sacrifice and effort.  Without effort or struggle, we discount the value. We even feel cheated if a goal is too easy. 

In marriage, the difficulties that couples face periodically will strengthen their marriage in the long run.  The key is to not quit too soon. Therein lies life's challenge, to hold on long enough to get past the difficulties to reap the rewards. 

Even in business, we know that there are product life cycles -- a growth phase, a plateau,  and then a death phase (when the product sales decline and is replaced by a new one or one from a competitor).  Successful companies understand well this life cycle and make plans to minimize the financial impact of the death phase.  They anticipate obsolescence with new or renewed products. 

Wisdom comes from life's tribulations.  For some, maturation comes abruptly (i.e., to learn what is most important in life) when they face death and recover.  Life becomes clearer and much simpler.   They are better able to ignore trivial matters that once caused them concern and focus on what is most important in life. Someone once said that when life seems most difficult, resolution and success is often just around the next corner.  The goal and challenge is to hold on until you reach that corner!

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Alive Again! -- Theresa Sareo

At a recent conference on medical technologies that included presentations on medical simulations (animated medical situations such as found on the battlefield) and injured manikins, we met the guest singer, Theresa Sareo.  She was unforgettable because she had only one leg.  Her story was one of sadness but more importantly, one of recovery and great triumph.  While I expect one never fully recovers from a near-death situation, it is what Theresa has become that is the story.  She is a role model for thousands of soldiers and others who have had life-altering traumatic injuries.  With Theresa, her gift of song makes her extra special.  Before her accident, she was already an accomplished singer-song writer in New York City.  After her accident, she is now an ambassador to wounded warriors and others, and who is also a singer-song writer.

I am always encouraged to hear about someone who defies significant odds to live a renewed, purposeful life.   After visiting Walter Reed Army Hospital, Theresa was moved to adopt the cause of supporting wounded warriors.  She subsequently wrote a song, "Through a Soldier's Eye," as a tribute to soldiers and what they endure.  It has been adopted as the 'anthem' for wounded warriors.  For the past three years, she has volunteered many hours to travel to events here and abroad to encourage and entertain wounded warriors.  We were honored to join Theresa as her guests at the closing ceremonies for Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC where she was the guest singer at the closing.  A celebration concert was later provided by the Doobie Brothers where Theresa was asked to join them in a song (View this photo).  Very special!

Here is the back story. On June 11, 2002 at the corner of 34th St and Park Avenue in New York City, Theresa Sareo's life changed forever. She remembers the date as nine months to the day of 9/11 (Sept. 9, 2011), the day of the airline terrorists attacks on the World Trade buildings, the Pentagon, and the crash of the last hijacked plane in a Pennsylvania field. 

At 2:45 pm Theresa was struck by an impaired driver while waiting on the street corner. The impact disarticulated her entire right leg at the ball socket.  The surgeon at Bellevue Hospital said, "It was as if a grenade had exploded in her pocket leaving a cavity the size of a large bowl in her right side." Theresa's internal organs were exposed, her leg was hanging by a bit of flesh, and she was to lose half of her blood on that corner.

A dentist, trained in advanced cardiac life support, happened to be walking by and was the first help to arrive at the scene.  He acted quickly and organized bystanders to help until the EMTs arrived 10 minutes after the accident.  The dentist was certain that Theresa was going to die and cried for her. 

When brought to emergency, the director of trauma services at Bellevue Hospital felt in his heart that Theresa was not going to make it.  The surgeon reported to Theresa's boyfriend that she was stable, her internal organs appeared OK, there was no head trauma, and she lost her leg.  But he could not guarantee her survival.

Theresa was in a coma for nearly a week.  Shortly after awakening, she said, "I want to live!"  Two months after the near-death experience, Theresa sang the National Anthem at a baseball game!  Her trauma surgeon can't explain why Theresa survived. "It is an unanswerable question that gets to the mystery of life." 

Theresa's story is being made into a documentary, Alive Again!  Alive Again! is also the title of her latest album of songs.   

The accident details in this blog were excerpted from the article, Crash, in the New York Magazine written by Greg Williams (May 21, 2005). 

Theresa's motto: "Believe in the miracle you are!"

(More about Theresa: www.theresasareo.com, www.aliveagainmovie.com, www.facebook.com, www.myspace.com/theresasareo)

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Wounded Warriors -- Walter Reed Army Hospital (1909-2011)

Like many things we read about but have never witnessed in person, we can intellectually understand a situation, but not fully take to heart its meaning.  In other words, we can know, but we do not feel.  That's the situation when I speak about injured military, the wounded warriors.  The human aspects of an injured warrior did not come across until I met one brave warrior at the closing of the Walter Reed Army Hospital within the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

I met Adam.  He lost his left arm below the elbow, his left leg above the knee, and his right leg at the hip.  He had body wounds and was not expected to live when he arrived at the hospital a year ago.  He is 21 years old.  I would like to tell you I spoke with him and learned all about Adam, but I did not know how to relate to him and was not comfortable asking him questions.  I knew he still had a long way to go to be fully healed so I did not want to be the cause of a medical or psychological setback.  All I can tell you is that I learned that I have much to learn about people with disabilities.  I also know that I need to learn more about how to speak with someone with physical and psychological stress.  I marvelled at his strength and courage.  He even wheeled himself onto the floor to particpate in an impromptu dance of celebration toward the end of a Doobie Brother's concert presented as a closing celebration.  His mom ran out and took Adam's hand and danced with him around his wheelchair.  That's hope and expectation displayed!  Yes, I teared.

Bottomline.  We need to 'walk' in a person's shoes in order to appreciate the full impact of a person's situation.

I attended the Walter Reed Casing the Colors ceremony, when all the flags that had flown to represent the units within the Center were ceremoniously rolled and sheathed.  View this photo
Within several months, the hospital's 5,000 staff members will be divided between the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., which will be renamed the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and the newly completed Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia. All new combat casualties from Afghanistan and Iraq are already being sent primarily to the Bethesda facility. By late August, all of the Hospital's patients will have been moved to the two new sites. Thus after 102 years of service to the military, Walter Reed Hospital will officially close its doors on Sept. 15th and the facilities will be reused by the DC Government and a federal agency.

End of an era, the beginning of another.

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com