Needed: Leaders Who Know IT

Does government have the highly trained and talented top-level executives critical in promoting innovative ideas and growth through the use of information technology?

"The answer is 'No,'" writes Tom Hughes, chief information officer for the Social Security Administration, for a government management journal.

Hughes' blunt assessment appears in the upcoming spring issue of The Public Manager journal. Hughes' article, "The Courage to Change When Challenged," is one of four articles in the journal written under the purview of "PMA 44" (the President's Management Agenda for the 44th president, as in the next administration, a seminar series organized by Cisco's Business Solutions Group under the leadership of Alan Balutis, who also is a blogger for Tech Insider.) The other three articles cover human resources, acquisition and execution.

To improve government through the use of IT, Hughes recommends reinvigorating the bureaucracy by hiring younger leaders in the Senior Executive Service and hiring more private-sector managers in agencies' upper leadership ranks. He also suggests instilling in top leadership positions the understanding of how to use IT strategically to meet agency goals. One way, Hughes writes, would be to ask large companies to loan top executives to agencies to instill these changes.

Third, Hughes argues the government must invest in new technologies to remain competitive and to improve government services, such as spending more on high-speed broadband communications. (The United States has fallen from fourth in the world in broadband penetration to 24th, right behind Estonia.) Such an investment would provide new services to the public, including educational and recreational opportunities, and providing medical care to underserved populations.

You can read more about what the next administration should do to improve government management when the Public Manager is available in a few weeks.