Public service entrepreneurs

1 Apr 2011 02:25 PM

Director of the Institute for Government Andrew Adonis has called for a new generation of public service entrepreneurs in Ethos magazine.

He argues that a shift in mindset is needed to meet the unique set of challenges of the government's reform agenda:

"The biggest risk over the next few years is that as the public sector cuts bited, our public servicees will hunker down, retreating to their core mission and becoming more introspective.

"Responding to this agenda requires public service leaders with a truly entrepreneurial mindset. They will need to be comfortable with, and respond to, rapid change."

Andrew Adonis argues public service leaders will need to concentrate on seeking and exploiting opportunitities rather than just managing resources efficiently:

"We need to break away from a view of public services that focuses on the efficient and effective distribution of state resources, and instead focus on the opportunities to improve people's lives, wherever these opportunities exist and whoever is best placed to take advantage of them."

In his speech to the Public Sector Expo Conference Andrew Adonis criticised the rhetoric of a "public bad, private good" approach in government.

You can read the full article below.

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