I spent years as a creative thinker in what may be the most non-creative environment in the world: the U.S. government. As a strategic planner, an international policy advisor, and a leader in a policy research institute, I tried to look beyond bureaucratic inertia and “that’s the way we’ve ALWAYS done things” attitudes to find a better way to conduct the business of governing. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t about my bosses, and tried to put those lessons into practice when I was running the show. As a college professor, first teaching strategic studies and later political science, I learned about group behavior and why organizations do the things they do, then later stepped back into the day-to-day government workplace where I saw an amazing – and amazingly frustrating – case study unfold before me.
The foundation of my observations is my education: my formative years were spent getting a degree in Economics from the University of Virginia, where Thomas Jefferson – probably the most creative guy ever to be in this government or any other – was revered as our founder. I went on to earn an MBA from Regis University, a great Jesuit school where they don’t slap your wrist with a ruler for speaking your mind, and I finally rounded that out with a PhD in Public Policy from George Mason University. Later, I took a hip-hop class, which in the end might be the most useful learning I did. What I’ve learned – from books, from mentors, from classes, from good leaders and bad – shouldn’t just be reserved for me.
And so…this blog.
My plan is to share what I’ve picked up along the way, try to sort it all out and make sense of it (not always a good idea in public, but whatever), and learn from readers willing to share their thoughts and experiences.
Oh, and for the record, I can’t draw, sing, play an instrument, or design clothes. But the hip-hop class really helped more than you'd imagine.
A Note About the Author
Dr Will Thomas has been active in the government, in academia, and in an advisory role to private firms and non-profits for over 20 years. During this time he's taught as a Fulbright Scholar at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological Univerrsity in Singapore; advised the Iraqi Ministry of Defense on the development of a security strategy; mentored the faculty at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan in Kabul; and, worked with local non-profits in Washington, DC, as well as creative firms in Asia. It's always important to remember that he's really, really not kidding about not being able to sing.