The Operator's Manual for the New Administration explains how government works and how to make it work to advance policy goals and objectives. Bringing decades of experience in government administration, the authors have identified eight key tools-leadership, performance, people, money, contracting, technology, innovation, and collaboration-that executives must utilize in order to be successful.

From the Introduction to Getting it Done: "Simply put, Washington is a tough town. Succeeding in Washington requires not only hard work (which is clearly needed), but also a highly sensitive antenna about the environment surrounding your agency. "You must succeed with all 14 of the stakeholder groups described in this book. Any one of them can cause problems for you. Conversely, every one of them can serve as a key leverage point for you to succeed in Washington." Written for newly appointed government agency heads and their senior management teams, Getting It Done addresses the environment of government. Part I of the book offers a straightforward to-do list to guide officials in their new leadership positions. Tip includes how to act quickly on what can't wait, develop a vision and a focused agenda, and much more. Part II of the book provides short overviews of the fourteen stakeholders that government officials will most frequently encounter. These stakeholders include policy councils, Congress, unions, and the Government Accountability Office.

To understand the challenges of political leadership and how top executives succeed in accomplishing an Administration’s objectives, business-in-government experts Paul R. Lawrence and Mark A. Abramson present the findings of a four-year study of top political appointees in the Obama Administration. The 42 participants—Deputy Secretaries and agency heads—provide case studies of how each approaches the management challenges and achieves the mission of their organization. Full of behind-the-scenes insights and practical advice from government political executives on how they face management challenges in real time, What Government Does: How Political Executives Manage offers indispensable insights to current and prospective political appointees and everyone interested in understanding how leaders make government agencies more effective. The new book, a follow-up to their previous book, Paths to Making a Difference: Leading in Government, presents an insightful framework of what government does. Instead of thinking about government by policy area, the authors present an alternative approach in which government executives are categorized by the type of agency they are managing. The book includes chapters on Deputy Secretaries, producers, regulators, infrastructors, scientists, and collaborators.

As a serial entrepreneur, Kevin Kruse has seen time and again that the leadership practices that actually work are the opposite of what is commonly taught and implemented. Close Your Open Door Policy shows how a contrarian approach can be a better, faster, and easier way to succeed as a leader. Chapter by chapter, Kruse focuses on a piece of popular wisdom, then shows with real-world case studies and quantitative research that the opposite approach will lead to better results, encouraging leaders to play favorites, stay out of meetings, and, of course, close their open doors.

This book presents findings from a two-year study of top political appointees in the Obama administration that help reveal the challenges of political leadership and how top executives succeed in accomplishing an administration's objectives.

Succeeding as a Political Executive: Fifty Insights from Experience is based on the real-life experience of 64 high-level executives who served in the Obama Administration. Most were at the agency head level. From 2009 to 2015, the authors conducted a series of interviews with these individuals, gaining insights into running government organizations. This book is aimed at those interested in the transition of power to the next presidential administration starting in 2017.