Description:
Ready to transform government from the inside out? It's easy to complain about government bureaucracy and transportation in large American cities, but what if you could actually improve them instead?
That's exactly what the authors of New Tricks for Old Bureaucracies set out to do in the Office of Extraordinary Innovation at Los Angeles Metro, a transportation agency with a $9.5 billion annual budget in a county larger than 40 states. Now you can learn from their hard-earned successes, and valuable mistakes, as they provide helpful lessons learned for anyone looking to make change in public agencies.
You'll learn how to:
- Navigate internal resistance
- Build coalitions and fix processes
- Recognize impenetrable fiefdoms
- Pick your battles and win them
Using amusing behind-the-scenes stories, New Tricks presents a pragmatic playbook for those who want to deliver lasting government reform, and an outright nerd-fest for anyone working in public transportation!
Brief description: Marla Westervelt Berg is a Principal with Cityfi, a consulting firm focused on innovation at the intersection of public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She has also worked with the Office of Extraordinary Innovation at LA Metro, the Eno Center for Transportation, and Bird.
Review Quotes:
"Anyone dedicated to reforming public agencies and modernizing transit service in cities should read New Tricks for Old Bureaucracies. You will not only enjoy an engaging book, but you will also gain valuable insights about the methods and pitfalls of prodding and coaxing bureaucratic organizations to improve processes, performance and outcomes for their constituents." -David Bragdon, former Executive Director of Transit Center
"Making change in public institutions is hard! Schank, Huang, and Westervelt recount amusing stories of their successes and failures at LA Metro to illustrate how we can make things happen!" -Nadine Lee, General Manager of Dallas Area Rapid Transit
"Cities face big transportation problems, and they cannot be solved without innovative thinking and major policy change. I love that in higher numbers, people are bringing their entrepreneurial spirit to the public sector. But as Joshua, Emma, and Marla outline, it is still not easy or guaranteed to succeed. Fortunately, they took some hard knocks that you can learn from, vs. making the same mistakes. The authors' persistence created positive change, and in this book, they distill some helpful lessons learned for anyone looking to do the same." -Gabe Klein, Former Director of the Chicago and Washington, DC Departments of Transportation