Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in public administration?
Oddly, I started out in college as a Latin major. I wanted to be a high school Latin teacher or even to go into the priesthood (hold your laughter here, please). My children explain it by contending that since Latin was likely still a spoken language back then, it could have been a sound career decision. But in college, I was influenced by two very different professors. One was a Vietnam veteran, only an Instructor, who taught a Political Science course in International Relations, where we spent a good part of the semester on United States foreign policy, the Congress and the powers of the Presidency.
The other was a Full Professor in Economics, whose courses often dealt with labor relations, urban economics, and industrial policy and who was also very active in national and New York State politics. Through my studies with him and with his support, I worked (while still in school) as a staff aide in the New York State Assembly, then for the State's Constitutional Convention, and finally for Robert F. Kennedy's 1964 successful senatorial campaign. I continued my graduate studies in political science and public administration and then accepted a role as an Assistant Professor in Buffalo, NY. While there, I was awarded a slot as a Public Administration Fellow in a program run by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA); I took an assignment in an Office of Legislative Affairs at what was then the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), the current HHS, plus what's now the Department of Education and an independent Social Security Administration.
I won't trace the long story of why I stayed, moving from a "deadwood academician" to a "deadwood bureaucrat," but I did - for almost 30 years. I will just mention in passing that as part of the NASPAA program, I still recall a morning session at NAPA where we met several "Gods of the Discipline." All, as one might expect in those days, were male, pale, and stale.
Who has been a key mentor or source of inspiration for you?
There have been so many smart and dedicated public servants and academicians that I've had the chance to work with over the many years that I have been in or around government. So that is a very hard question to answer. Perhaps one I'd single out was Don Wortman. I stayed on after my fellowship year was coming to a close because I had the chance to play an important staff role in a major reorganization of HEW. In addition to the normal "box shuffling" of certain functions, that reorganization abolished one entire agency and created a new one that merged Medicare and Medicaid to create the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Don was charged with closing out the agency being abolished (the Social and Rehabilitation Service) and standing up HCFA. And I had the chance to work directly for him.
In the long days/weeks/months that we did so, while heralding how the reorganization would produce savings, improve efficiency, streamline operations, all that management will-of-the wisp glop-doodle, Don stated and managed to a key maxim - THE SOFT THINGS WILL BE THE HARD THINGS. And what he meant by that was two things. First, what would matter in both abolishing SRS and creating HCFA would be how we treated people, how we communicated, kept them informed, managed rumors and fears, moved them to new roles with new colleagues and new supervisors, saved grade/pay/status, and so on. That would be key as to whether this new agency got off the ground properly or was bogged down in employee grievances, lost productivity, and the like. Second, moving boxes, cutting budgets to create "savings'" relocating office, etc., those are all easy compared to really guiding an organization through a period of fundamental change. Again, "the soft things are the hard things."
What advice would you give to those interested in pursuing a career in public administration?
Picking up on how I just answered the previous question, I would say one surely needs hard skills/the basics - budget and finance, strategic planning, HR, and so on. All the things that one would get with a bachelor's or master's degree in political science, public policy, or business or public administration. But I used to jokingly say that if I knew, back in my student days, that I would be running big organizations or programs or taking over what Peat-Marwick dubbed "a runaway system" - a project over budget, behind schedule and not delivering the promised results - that I would have taken more courses in psychology. I do seriously recommend classes that would build "soft skills," classes in history, sociology, etc. and internships/labs that offer real-life experience. John Koskinen once compared it to the earlier days of scoring in ice skating competitions. The first stage was a compulsory round - had one mastered all the fundamentals, all the basics. The second stage was a creative/freestyle round - where one could show imagination, creativity, and mastery of more difficult challenges. Also, try to find a mentor - one who is a good manager but also a good person.
What would you currently consider the most critical challenge for public administration and why?
Today, with a national election in 2024, I will just state simply that the critical challenge is the future of our democracy and our system of representative government enabled by a neutral, competent, professional civil service.
What is your favorite cuisine?
I love to grill anything - but with charcoal, NOT gas. Real men only cook when open flames and danger are involved.
What is your favorite hobby or activity that you enjoy doing in your free time?
I enjoy reading, gardening, and volunteering in my Arlington, VA community.
What was your dream job as a child?
Running amuck for a mucking company.
Want to hear more? You can check out Alan's episode of our series on AI in the Public Sector here.
