Horrible derailments are not reserved for commuter trains. Americans’ trust of the two major candidates for president has crashed, too. The good news is that not everything believed about national candidates or national conditions is believed about local government. Across America, we have tested how much or how little tens of thousands of residents trust… Read More Local Government’s Public Trust Puzzle

Despite the contemporary erosion of of facts, it’s impossible to run large organizations without credible observations about what’s happening and, separately, what’s working. Performance measurement helps with both and can be as deliberate as Baldridge Key Performance Indicators or as impromptu as “How’m I doing?” made famous by former Mayor Ed Koch’s ad hoc surveys… Read More Time to Rethink Performance Measurement

Performance measures usually count the activities and efficiencies of government service. However, the bottom line in performance must account for the reason government delivers service: to make for strong communities. So while it is important to know how local governments compare in service delivery, it’s even more valuable to know where service delivers success. From… Read More Quality of Community Life: Where It’s Best and Whose Responsibility It Is

You can tell a book by its cover Often the cover of a book gives away clues to the style of the story, the investment in the work and the willingness of people to lend their reputations to support the book. In the same way, a community’s appearance may reveal its investments, connections, safety, planning… Read More What New Research Reveals About the Key Drivers of Community Quality

Many Republicans are certain that global warming comes not from human activity but from solar or other natural cycles. Many Democrats are convinced that global climate change is the result of humans. Most of us are not so scientifically astute that we can evaluate the data ourselves, so we tend to rely on the pronouncements… Read More How Tribe Blinds Even the Best to Truth

Over three years, a city manager developed a plan to improve what, to her, were lackluster employee ratings of organizational quality – work environment, wages and benefits, communication and the like. By the end of the period, employees were reporting better work conditions. But here was the big surprise. In a citizen survey, residents gave… Read More Local Government Employees Reveal What Makes for Job Success*

You’ve probably heard by now of the research by Mischel, et al, sometimes called The Marshmallow Study, which showed how some children grab a smaller treat immediately while others hold out for a bigger reward that would come later. The original research was done at Stanford more than 40 years ago with studies that followed… Read More What a Marshmallow Tells Us about Public Trust

A left leaning fellow I know asked rhetorically about the putative Republican front-runner: “Doesn’t he appeal to your inner Trump?” I questioned what he meant by that, assuming that the small space reserved for Republican candidates in the mind of a liberal would have yellow tape barring entry for a Trump candidacy. “Trump says stuff… Read More Trump Your Inner Self

Current news has been saturated with alleged incidents of racially aggravated police violence. Imagery depicting mostly young, black men shot by mostly white police officers has incited waves of news and editorials, strong emotions and a national movement. A Google search of “race and police brutality” generates Web posts asserting ill-intent and bad behavior by… Read More Do Americans Feel Law Enforcement Has Failed Them?