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Special Edition! Live from AGA's 54th Annual Professional Development Conference & Exposition, Orlando, FL The United States is facing threats that are far greater than those posed by any other country or terrorist group, said Comptroller General of the United States David Walker. Walker, speaking to about 1,600 attendees at AGA's 54th Annual Professional Development Conference & Exposition in Orlando Tuesday, said America needs strong leaders to deal with three critical challenges: the federal budget deficit, the balance of payments crisis and the dangerously low overall savings rate, which is the lowest of any major industrialized country. He added that the U.S. also lags behind many industrialized nations in K-12 education results, health care outcomes and infrastructure needs. Walker, who has eight years left in his 15-year term leading the US Government Accountability Office, spoke on, "America's Need for Leadership: Rising to the Challenge." He followed his keynote speech with a panel discussion on human capital issues. He said the nation is at a critical crossroads, and the fiscal path the country is on now is "imprudent and unsustainable." While the US is a global superpower, Americans risk entering into a period of decline unless the financial problems are solved. "We need to start now because time is working against us." He called upon the accountability professionals at the conference to lead by example. The US government lacks a governmentwide plan and outcome-based indicators that would help strategic planning efforts. Otherwise, he said, "We're flying blind in increasingly turbulent skies." Financial reports need to better reflect agencies' true financial picture; annual reports need to be more readable; federal agencies need to eliminate tunnel vision and near-sightedness to be more externally focused. He also called for a new chief management officer position for some agencies, especially at the US Department of Defense, to lead this cultural transformation. "DoD wastes billions and billions of dollars a year, and that's got to stop-it's unacceptable." Leaders need to speak the truth, no matter if it's unpopular, he said. Human
Capital Challenges The panelists discussed ways to recruit and retain top talent to government jobs. All the panelists agreed that "making a difference" is a top motivator for people working for local, state or federal government. Mok said that the fulfillment of working for a government institution can't be measured in dollars. He added that government employees don't have to worry about the pressures of Wall Street or their pension plans being terminated. "No CFO in the federal government has gone to jail yet," he joked. The panelists also stressed the importance of training and professional development in recruiting and retaining government employees. Mok said he never promotes someone unless they have trained someone below them to be a qualified backup. Changing from the General Schedule pay system to a pay-for-performance system was also discussed, with the panelists agreeing that additional flexibility is needed, but that creating a fair and transparent process to get there is paramount. Walker said that he believes no change in the pay structure should occur unless employees are involved in creating safeguards to make sure that the new rules are fairly and consistently applied and that a due process is in place for grievances. "If you don't do it right, you're really going to screw it up quick," Kinghorn said. Living
Up to Our Potential Jemison, who is also an engineer, was the first woman of color to go into space in 1992 aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. She is now an entrepreneur, founding two technology companies, but she also describes herself as a wannabe dancer who chose to go to medical school after graduating from Stanford University rather than try to make it on stage in New York City. She left NASA in 1993 to start the Jemison Group, Inc. to focus on the integration of science and technology into everyday life. She said science and technology is misunderstood. At the heart of science is, "I think, I wonder, I understand." Technology is putting that understanding into practical use. Jemison said that individual decisions we make every day are part of the bigger picture of the kind of world we will leave behind for future generations. For example, how do we want to spend government research dollars? Should we research nuclear physics to make medicine or bombs? Should satellites be used to study the earth, or to assess military capabilities of other countries and then augment our own? She said each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it. "I had to learn very early not to limit myself due to others' limited imagination," she said in a statement. "I have learned these days never to limit anyone else due to my limited imagination." By: Christina M. Camara |
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