On October 29, 2009 Katy Simon, County Manager, Washoe County, Nevada shared with Alliance members her thoughts and ideas on encouraging innovation in local government. During this 60-minute webinar she defined innovation, discussed the manager’s role in innovation, identified successful leadership characteristics, debunked myths surrounding innovation, and summarized results from a recent Alliance for Innovation survey on innovation.

It is the concept of deliberate practice that seemingly separates superior performers from average ones. The final four chapters explore the application of the principles of great performance organizationally and examine the roles of innovation, age and passion in the pursuit of excellence.

We were involved in ongoing change and improvement. This is one of the reasons why we were so actively involved in the Alliance, because it was a hot bed of ideas.

This is the final installment of the Ambassador Book Review of The Ten Faces of Innovation, written by Tom Kelley of IDEO. In the previous two installments we learned about The Learning Personas (Anthropologist, Experimenter, and Cross-Pollinator) and the three Organizing Personas (Hurdler, Collaborator, and Director).

To help fashion the vital new future for a downsized and restructured local government, executives
must understand that the psychological impacts of downsizing seriously exacerbate the actual reductions in resources. Employees typically feel victimized, pessimistic, overwhelmed, and resistant to any change or opportunities. An executive cannot manage an organization’s way to a new, more vital future.

Rather, an executive must spend a lot of “face time” with employees, exerting visible, confident, and optimistic leadership and then engaging employees in envisioning a new story and fulfilling