Otis White

The skills and strategies of civic leadership

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The Worst Management Idea of the 20th Century

April 12, 2017 By Otis White Leave a Comment

“Pay for performance” is a mediocre motivator of employees with potentially disastrous consequences for businesses. And it’s even worse in government. Rather than quotas and bonuses, have you tried coaching, praise . . . and a simple “thank you”?

Lesson Seven: Process and Results

October 2, 2014 By Otis White Leave a Comment

Reporters at city hall have a choice. They can write only process stories or they can take the harder path of writing about results. Here’s how they can cover both process and results . . . and why they ought to.

The Mayor as Manager

February 23, 2011 By Otis White 1 Comment

People rarely run for office because they want to manage a bureaucracy. But no job is more important for a mayor. Here are four things mayors and other civic leaders need to know about managing local governments.

Cities and Disruptive Change

September 23, 2010 By Otis White 1 Comment

How do cities handle disruptive change, from hurricanes and economic decline to changes of taste and world view? Not by managing things as they do in normal times.

Seven Ways Community Decisions Are Different

September 1, 2010 By Otis White Leave a Comment

Decision making is different in communities than in corporations or non-profits in at least seven different ways. Here they are.

Recent Posts

  • What Smart Mayors Can Learn from the Turnaround of Central Park
  • How Communities Can Thrive in a Post-Newspaper World
  • Seven Habits of Highly Successful Civic Projects
  • When Bad Things Happen to Good Governments
  • How Citizen Engagement Could Save State Politics
  • How Odd Couples, Complementary Needs, and Chance Can Change Cities
  • A Better Way to Teach Civic Leadership
  • The Worst Management Idea of the 20th Century
  • How to Deal with a Demagogue
  • What Government Is Good At
  • Return to Sender
  • The Loneliness of the Courageous Leader
  • A Better Way of Judging Candidates
  • How to Build an Army of Supporters
  • A Beginner’s Guide to Facilitation
  • The Temperament of Great Leaders
  • Units of Civic Progress
  • Leadership as “a Kind of Genius”
  • How to Read a Flawed Book About Cities
  • A Mayor’s Test for Good Decisions
  • How to Manage a Crisis Before It Happens
  • Lesson Seven: Process and Results
  • Lesson Six: The Secret of Government Success
  • The Magicians of Main Street
  • Lesson Five: Vision and Demographics

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About Otis White

Otis White is president of Civic Strategies, Inc., a collaborative and strategic planning firm for local governments and civic organizations. He has written about cities and their leaders for more than 30 years. For more information about Otis and his work, please visit www.civic-strategies.com.

The Great Project

Otis White's multimedia book, "The Great Project," is available on Apple iTunes for reading on an iPad. The book is about how a single civic project changed a city and offers important lessons for civic leaders considering their own "great projects" . . . and for students in college planning and political science programs.

For more information about the book, please visit the iTunes Great Project page.

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You can find Otis White's urban issues updates by searching for @OtisWhite. And you can "like" us on Facebook.

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