To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government - Softcover

Newell, Terry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692385436 ISBN 13: 9780692385432

Publisher: Loftlands Press, 2015

Synopsis

To Serve with Honor argues that public servants must act ethically and honorably to earn the public's trust - and that no amount of ethics laws will guarantee this. There are 109 pages of federal government ethics laws, yet CIA Director David Petraeus resigned over an affair with his biographer. No law prevented that. The IRS improperly singled out certain groups seeking tax-exempt status for review - and then did its best to explain away what it had done. Again, no law prevented that. Appointment schedulers in the Veterans Health Administration falsified patient wait times under pressure from their own management. Secret Service agents consorted with prostitutes in Cartagena and shared their concerns about agency practices with the press but not their own leaders. Ethics laws and rules can help public servants choose between "right" and "wrong." But rulebooks are not enough. The promise of democracy can be realized only if government workers earn the public's trust by doing the right thing, whether or not there are rules to guide them. This takes skill and moral courage. To Serve with Honor focuses especially on ethics choices between "right" and "right" - where no law or regulation is even possible. What do I do when asked to withhold information I think the public should see? How do I deal with a superior whose behavior is destroying morale? How do I balance competing expectations among clients my organization serves? What do I do when pressured to lie? How can I spot ethical problems before they blindside me? As a leader, how can I create a positive ethical culture in my organization? In these - and most of the ethics issues public servants face- there might be many "right" choices- all of them legal. But how do I pick the best one? This book - filled with case studies, checklists, and stories of exemplary public servants - offers a practical, readable roadmap for acting ethically and honorably. Using the acronym, SERVE, the book takes the reader through five es

About this title

About the Author:

Terry Newell is currently director of his own firm, Leadership for a Responsible Society. His work focuses on values-based leadership, ethics, and decision making. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Federal Executive Institute, a residential executive education center for the federal government in Charlottesville, Virginia and at the University of Virginia. A former Air Force officer, Terry previously served as Director of the Horace Mann Learning Center, the training arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute. Terry’s publications have addressed such issues as trust, values and ethics in leadership, statesmanship, leadership character, and organizational change. He is co-editor and author of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work and author of Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America and a book of essays, Reflections on America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Loftlands Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0692385436
• ISBN 13: 9780692385432
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256