The Art of Public Strategy: Mobilizing Power and Knowledge for the Common Good

The strategies adopted by our governments and public officials can lead to significant change in citizens' lives - smoking bans, carbon markets, even the reunification of a country like Germany. Equally, strategic failure can result in highly visible disasters, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. This book is about how strategies take shape, and how money, people, technologies, and public commitment can be mobilized to achieve important goals. It considers the common mistakes made, and how these can be avoided. Written by Geoff Mulgan, a former head of policy for the UK prime minister, and advisor to governments round the world, it is packed with examples and shaped by the author's practical experience. The author's central point is that we as citizens deserve governments that pay more attention to the long-term, rather than to tomorrow's opinion poll or newspaper editorial. The evidence shows that those governments that have learned how to be strategic have helped to make their citizens healthier, richer and happier. The book is essential reading for anyone involved in running public organizations - from hospitals and schools to national government departments and local councils - but also for anyone interested in how government really works.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction: From Tangled Knots to Virtuous Circles Part I 2: What is Public Strategy? 3: Public Action: The Dynamics of Supply and Demand 4: A Framework for Adaptive Strategy Part II 5: Locating Strategy: Structures, Processes, and Cultures 6: Knowledge: How Can Governments Know Enough to Govern? 7: Implementation: Moving from Words to Action 8: Positive Risks: Taking Innovation in the Public Sector Seriously 9: Negative Risks: Strategies for Resilience 10: Joined-up Government 11: Changing Minds and Behaviour 12: Winning (and Losing) Public Trust 13: Metrics: Measuring Social and Public Value 14: Persistent Leadership Part III 15: Separating the Urgent and the Important: Strategy as a Public Good

About the Author :
Geoff Mulgan CBE is director of the Young Foundation, an organization specialising in social innovation that in the past helped give birth to organizations such as the Open University and Which. He has held various roles in government in the UK, including director of the government's Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister's office. He has lectured and advised governments in countries all over the world, from China and the USA to Australia and India. He is a visiting professor at LSE, UCL, and Melbourne University. His most recent book is Good and Bad Power: The Ideals and Betrayals of Government (Allen Lane, 2006). He is on the editorial board of Political Quarterly; a trustee of the Work Foundation and the Design Council; chair of Involve and of the Carnegie Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in the UK and Ireland.

Review :
Riveting fizzing with insights and ideas.... a "must read" for anyone interested in strategic choice and action in government. Bold ... intelligent, well-argued and challenging. I recommend it. Unusually useful and clear ... it shows how vision, courage and discipline can achieve change ... and avoids empty pieties by being firmly based on fact and experience. What is needed to close the gap between existing government capacity and urgent problems is skilled strategists who can successfully integrate public aspirations, operational capacities to deliver results, and a sharp and unrelenting focus on the production of publicly valued results. Geoff Mulgan, relying on both a strong scholarly base, and broad experience in government, has written a wonderful book that can provide invaluable guidance to those who would like to offer such value creating public leadership. I recommend it highly. Geoff Mulgan's deep insights into the politics of change derive from a profound understanding of the dynamics of modern societies, impressive creativity in the design of new social institutions, and an abiding commitment to social progress. His work has informed the thinking of public officials at the top of the pyramid as well as social entrepreneurs at the grass roots, and it should be widely read and studied. Good government takes the long-term seriously and there can be few people better qualified than Geoff Mulgan to show how this aspiration can become part of the day-to-day work of departments and agencies.