Category Archives: Culture

PROTECT THE DEVIANTS!

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Thom Kearney

I was a “risky” hire.  Not quite cut from the same cloth. A slightly irregular education. A different sort of professional background. An advocate for better, maybe not anonymous enough…someone with an opinion. The system, like any mature system, naturally … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Leadership, Positive Change, Rant, Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Crowded Boardroom: When the long tail collides with hierarchy – a true story.

Posted on August 26, 2018 by Thom Kearney

This not a random picture, it is how I envision the government. Each ship is a department or agency. The ships have commanders with considerable authority. Communication at a distance is very bad, (they did it with flags). Groups of … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Culture, Leadership, Positive Change, Presentation | Leave a comment

The sausage and the salad

Posted on February 11, 2018 by Thom Kearney

Traditional government policy results in sausages. Open policy making produces salads. Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Open Government, Positive Change | 1 Comment

No one cares about open government

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Thom Kearney

Open government is one of those terms that has different meanings depending upon your perspective.You might feel it is mostly about open data, or making information freely available, or you might think it is about engaging with constituents. In 2014 … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Open Data, Open Government | Leave a comment

So what’s with the ducks?

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Thom Kearney

  Those of you that have been to my office know that I seem to have an obsession with ducks, particularly the bathtub kind. My collection of rubber, plastic, glass and paper ducks was mostly accumulated a few years ago … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Marketing & Communication | 1 Comment

You can change culture now: 3 essential truths for public service leaders

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Thom Kearney

Three profound truths that I discovered at a red light one day… Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Culture, Gov 2.0, Leadership, Learning, Marketing & Communication, Positive Change, Rant | Leave a comment

Good enough, is.

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Thom Kearney

I have worked with government now for about 15 years and somewhere in that period I became infected with Public Service Renewal disease.  I call it that because that was I how I first learned to articulate it. But you … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Leadership, Positive Change, Rant | 10 Comments

Three words for the season

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Thom Kearney

This holiday season I would like to share a song with you from a band that my teenage son introduced to me to. It is certainly not a Christmas song, but I think the sentiment is one that is appropriate. … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Positive Change | Leave a comment

The Importance of Open

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Thom Kearney

Over the years I have had the chance to reflect upon lessons from quite a few successful and unsuccessful projects.  One of the more significant things that I have been lucky enough to be involved with is helping to bring … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Culture, Gov 2.0, Rant | Leave a comment

Collaboration Tools the Shirky Ladder

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Thom Kearney

This post originally appeared as part of the GTEC 2013 Blog Collaboration is a word you hear a lot these days, and its one of GTEC13’s theme words.  In the Government of Canada (GC) Public Service context, the Chief Information … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Culture, Gov 2.0 | 2 Comments