• January 2012: Be Unreasonable

As a member of the team of Kennedy School faculty who lead executive-education programs for the public sector, Bob Behn chairs "Driving Government Performance: Leadership Strategies that Produce Results." And it will be back:

Sunday through Friday, March 18 to 23, 2012
Application Deadline: Friday, February 3.

Apply Now: Avoid the Last-Minute Rush

Bob also conducts custom-designed executive-education programs for public agencies seeking to ratchet up their performance.

• January 2012: Be Unreasonable
• December 2011: Stretch Targets
• November 2011: Avoid the Reorganization Trap
• October 2011: Nudge Leadership with Four Questions
• September 2011: Requirements Require Leadership
• August 2011: Be Aware (& Beware) of Campbell's Law
• July 2011: Leadership Not POSDCORB
• June 2011: Spending Time Signals Priorities
• May 2011: Budgeting for Today, Not for Tomorrow
• April 2011: Multitasking Creates Mediocrity
• March 2011: Treating "Comprehensivitus"
• February 2011: Picking Measures is Leadership's Job
• January 2011: Distributing Comparative Data
• December 2010: Always Start with Purpose
• November 2010: Priorities in BlackBerryLand
• Oct 2010: Accountability Cannot Coerce Competence
• September 2010: Assumptions Drive Conclusions
• August 2010: Homo Recognicus not Home Economicus
• July 2010: Getting People to Pay Attention to Details
• June 2010: The Cynics, The Idealists and the Realists
• May 2010: Leadership Is Not A Reductions Endeavor
• April 2010: Ted Williams's Goals and Grit
• March 2010: Reciprocity, Corruption, and Performance
• February 2010: The 'Egregious' IG Mentality
• January 2010: Connecting-The-Dots Metaphor
• December 2009: Closing the Knowledge-Practice Gap
• November 2009: PerformanceStat Leadership Strategy
• October 2009: Simple Strategies Drive Out the Subtle
• September 2009: Ratcheting Up Performance
• August 2009: The Face-to-Face Buzz
• July 2009: Leadership Is a "Generative" Activity
• June 2009: That's Funny
• May 2009: Recognizing Novelty
• April 2009: Sometimes Weird Works
• March 2009: The Data Don't Speak for Themselves
• February 2009: No Perfect Performance Measure
• January 2009: The Split-Personality CPO
• December 2008: Drafting A Final Report Years Early
• November 2008: The Performance-Target Ethic
• October 2008: The Gotcha-Game Debate
• September 2008: Compared With What
• August 2008: Shining a Bright Light
• July 2008: Dashboards as Data Dumps
• June 2008: Expectations for Performance Audits
• May 2008: Measurement Is Rarely Enough
• April 2008: Predicting Managerial Performance
• March 2008: Beware the Dysfunctional Org Chart
• February 2008: Citizens' Basic-Services Imperative
• January 2008: Efficiency is a Ratio
• December 2007: Luck Is Recognizing It
• November 2007: A Few Priority Measures—Plus More
• October 2007: The Danger of Using Too Few Measures
• September 2007: Only a Very Few Priority Measures
• August 2007: Buzzword Bingo
• July 2007: The Underperformance Problem
• June 2007: Binding Constraints
• May 2007: The Tacit Knowledge of Leadership
• April 2007: Measuring Individual Contributions
• March 2007: Service-Delivery Completion Targets
• February 2007: The Responsibility to Craft Purposes
• January 2007: Mandates Can't Force Good Behavior
• December 2006: Avoiding All Mistakes
• November 2006: Management Noir
• October 2006: Managerial Perception Gap
• September 2006: Performance Deficit
• August 2006: The Imperative of Adaption
• July 2006: Obsessed With "Best Practice"
• June 2006: Frederick Winslow Taylor Lives
• May 2006: Limitation of Systems
• April 2006: Learn from Dissimilar Situations
• March 2006: The Ubiquitous How? Question
• February 2006: Stovepipe Bureaucracies Live
• January 2006: End Annual Personnel Appraisals
• December 2005: Fix the Dissatisfiers First
• November 2005: Resistence to Measurement
• October 2005: Managerial Competence
• September 2005: The Anna Karenina Principle
• August 2005: Charter Agencies
• July 2005: Operational Theories
• June 2005: M-Gov, E-Gov, and I-Gov
• May 2005: Hoop Jumping
• April 2005: The Performance Treadmill
• March 2005: The Accountability Dilemma
• February 2005: An Adrenaline Rush
• January 2005: The Magical Performance System
• December 2004: The Charisma Excuse
• November 2004: CitiStat
• October 2004: Year Two
• September 2004: Bureaucratic Routines
• August 2004: Multiple Performance Measures
• July 2004: Why Measure Performance?
• June 2004: Measure Outputs
• May 2004: Esteem Opportunities
• April 2004: Dumb Rules
• March 2004: Grading Agencies
• February 2004: Beating Expecations
• January 2004: Pay for Performance
• December 2003: Cookbook Management
• November 2003: Friendly Competition
• October 2003: The List
• September 2003: Performance Targets

  All of the reports are in PDF format. If you are having trouble viewing the files, try downloading Adobe Reader.

More rantings by Bob on Performance Leadership:

Bob devotes both his teaching and research to the challenge of improving performance in public organizations. Recently, he has been focusing his attention on the leadership and management strategy that he calls "PerformanceStat," which includes CompStat, CitiStat, and similar efforts by governmental jurisdictions and public agencies to produce results. Here are a few of Bob's publications on performance:

Designing PerformanceStat: Or What Are the Key Strategic Choices that a Jurisdiction or Agency Must Make When Adapting the CompStat/CitiStat Class of Performance Strategies? (December 2008)

The Seven Big Errors of PerformanceStat (February 2007)

What All Mayors Would Like to Know About Baltimore's CitiStat Performance Strategy (September 2007)

The Varieties of CitiStat (May 2006)

Performance Leadership: 11 Better Practices That Can Ratchet Up Performance (May 2004)

Why Measure Performance? Different Purposes Require Different Measures (September 2003)

The Psychological Barriers to Performance Management: Or Why Isn't Everyone Jumping on the Performance-Management Bandwagon (September 2002)

Performance, People, and Pay (May 2000)

Strategies for Avoiding the Pitfalls of Performance Contracting, with Peter A. Kant, (June 1999)

Creating Innovative Organization: Ten Hints for Involving FrontlineWorkers (Fall 1995)

The PerformanceStat Potential: A Leadership Strategy for Producing Results (Draft Chapter Outline of Bob's forthcoming book)