The Public Manager Spring 2013

This first issue of 2013 examines social media in the government—from how to implement social media tools and how to create a strategy, to the best practices and lessons learned throughout the implementation process.  Human capital investment is also a core topic of this issue, which looks at the character of successful leaders, the importance of investing in and training employees, and the critical parts of a succession planning initiative. Nan S. Russell’s Commentary article delves into how “titleless” leaders use conflict to get results. The feature by Raymond Marbury and Roger Mayer analyzes the positives of investing in succession planning and examines knowledge management, the increases in cost and national security issues if agencies fail to plan for succession, and the need to merge the philosophies of the different generations working side by side in the workplace. A Q&A with Deputy Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs W. Scott Gould focuses on investing in people and developing training to serve more than 300,000 employees.