It is no secret that leadership is widely recognized as critical to an organization’s success and all too often in shorter supply than the demand. Government especially, is the target of this lament.  How refreshing then to discover enlightened leadership hard at work right here in Hillsborough County.  My good friend Brenden Chiaramonte works as the Executive Assistant to Doug Belden a pioneer in fashioning organizational culture to align with his vision for the office, delivering consistent results for the benefit of taxpayers. Mr. Belden has been so successful in this regard that he and his team have been recognized twice for their commitment to continuous improvement, winning the Florida Governor’s Sterling Award for Performance Excellence.

Government is not a business, so why am I reading this you ask!  True, government is not a business though I would submit, it could certainly benefit from the lessons we’ve learned in running our businesses large and small.  In this article you will learn lessons that are highly transferable to your business even though it is about streamlining the processes in our local tax collector’s office.

Brenden will discuss the importance of trust. He will borrow from Stephen Covey when he advocates for being the change you want to see.  He recognizes the extreme challenges of shattering the status quo and the required tone at the top from leadership if you are ever to succeed.  The landscape changes more slowly in government but not so in business.  Learn how to reimagine processes with real time data and finally, perhaps more important than any other commitment, commit to developing what the Japanese labeled Kaizen, a continuous improvement mindset. Take advantage of every opportunity to get better.

For those of us in business the difference in margin might be the difference in our sustainability.