Positive Outcomes: Raising the Bar on Government Reinvention (1999) by Ted Gaebler, John Blackman, Linda Blessing, Raymon Bruce, Wallace Keene, Paul Smith

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Editorial Review
From the Publisher
The authors examine what works in government reinvention. They bring to bear a wide range of experience at the local, state and national levels. The book offers not just theory, but practical guidance with case studies and simulation software (on a CD-ROM) included. Enterprise government management is a map, not an itinerary. There are many methods and tools at hand to use for each step in the changing process; each having varied results relative to the different organizations and situations at hand. Where we do suggest various methods and tools already available that can be used in each action research step, they are intended to be examples only. Many others exist and can be equally useful. Ultimately, we encourage enterprise efforts to invent their own. This expands the knowledge base and can be shared with others. Many projects for change that fail, do so because people often get bogged down on one particular step or cannot find their way to transition to the next step. Action Research focuses on the transition between the steps of change. Its values are both in that it can be useful as a supportive adjunct to many change management methods and the fact that it operates at the nodes between the steps of change. Leadership, as distinct from management, at such junctures as these is most critical, because we lead between paradigms and manage within them. In enterprise government management leadership takes more of a form of guiding and coaching the people creating the services for positive outcomes. This kind of leadership also recognizes that the people receiving the services and the community in general may need to participate in this guidance process.