Short description:

This title explores what makes public servants effective by offering useful ideas and examining the accomplishments of public servants throughout American history.

Long description:

In the United States, new government employees begin their careers by pledging their allegiance to the Constitution and by committing to conscientious service dedicated to solving public problems. But what do public servants get in return? For many, a chance to serve provides public servants with a higher purpose as well as professional and personal meaning in their lives and careers. In The Promise of Public Service: Ideas and Examples for Effective Service, Michael M. Stahl, a 40-year veteran in the executive and legislative branches of state and federal service, demonstrates what makes public servants effective by offering useful ideas and examining the accomplishments of public servants throughout American history. The book blends theory with practice, exploring the role that attitudes and philosophy play throughout one?s career, offering practical implementation advice, and demonstrating how one can measure success. Undergraduate- and graduate-level courses will benefit from The Promise of Public Service as a resource, and practitioners of public service in all its forms will benefit from these ideas and examples at any stage of their careers.

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Table of Contents:

Part I. Ideas for Effective Public Service, 1. Introduction: The Oath and the Opportunity, 2. The Attitude of a Public Servant, 3. A Reflective Practitioner?s Philosophy: Creating Public Value and Solving Public Problems, 4. Implementing Public Policy and Using Networks, 5. Performance-Based Management: An Opportunity Squandered, 6. Government?s Greatest Achievements, 7. Qualities Needed by Future Public Servants, Part II. Examples for Effective Public Service: Profiles of Public Service Heroes, 8. Abraham Lincoln, Keeping the Union Together, 9. Frederick Douglass, Calling Out the Brutality and Hypocrisy of Slavery, 10. Ida B. Wells, Journalist Documenting Racial Injustice, 11. Upton Sinclair, Muckraking Author, 12. Alice Paul, Fighting for Women?s Voting Rights, 13. Harry Truman, Plain-Spoken President, 14. Frances Perkins, Champion of the New Deal, 15. George Marshall, Rescuing and Restoring Europe, 16. Martin Luther King, Jr., Warrior for Economic Justice, 17. Rachel Carson, Mother of a Movement, 18. Robert Kennedy, Beacon of Hope, 19. Sergio Vieira De Mello, Diplomat in Harm?s Way, Epilogue: Lessons Learned from Public Service Heroes, Appendix A. Ripples of Hope: Sustaining Quotations for Public Servants