Power Imperative, The: Working With Congress
Government agencies depend on Congress for their very existence, but Congress can do little more than give the bureaucracy general instructions as it concentrates on its own legislative agenda. Members of Congress do expect agencies to respond to th...
Power Imperative, The: Running the Show
Bureaucrats are often stereotyped as unaccountable because they are not easy to reach. Accountability, however, is much more subtle. It means being responsible to a number of constituencies beginning with the President and heads of the executive dep...
Power Imperative, The: Expert Knowledge Generates Power
In the corridors of the Capitol and the White House, bureaucrats achieve power because of their expert knowledge. These are civil servants who not only know where the skeletons are but also what needs to be done and the improvements that should be m...
Power Imperative, The: Co-existing With Other Departments
In addition to establishing leadership credentials within their own department, new executive leaders must figure out how to co-exist with each other in matters of mutual concern. The more departments in the mix, the more difficult it is to come to ...
Families Today and Tomorrow: Family Challenges: Employment
The United States has gone from an industrial economy in the first half of the 20th century to a post-industrial and service economy. The implications of this shift for the American family have been enormous.
Making A Difference
Former Secretary of Labor and university professor Robert Reich talks about the satisfaction of being part of the process that alters public policy with regard to issues like minimum wage and worker safety. "There is no greater satisfaction than kno...
Managing or Being Managed?
Former Secretary of Labor and university professor Robert Reich talks about the tendency of competent people in Cabinet departments to over-manage the time of the individual who heads the department. "You have got to assert yourself...you are in cha...
Cynicism and Politics
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich talks about what he terms the greatest evils in a democracy: indifference, escapism and resignation.
Balancing Act: Status of Workers, The
Workers began gaining a degree of power in the 1930s when Congress passed legislation that guaranteed their right to bargain collectively and established a minimum wage. In the decades that followed American workers continued to strengthen their pos...
Case For Education, The
Former Secretary of Labor and university professor Robert Reich talks about the state of education in the United States. Secretary Reich notes that most money for primary and secondary education comes from local property taxes. The result, he says, ...