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Weekly UpdatesThe first four years of the 21st century have posed unprecedented challenges for government finance officers. Yet at the same time, the fiscal crisis precipitated by the 2001 recession and the 9/11 terrorist attacks punctuated a trend that had been underway for some time--the emergence of the finance officer as a key organizational leader. Having shed the financial technician label, finance officers are poised to influence their organizations--and the communities they serve--as never before.
As we move further into the new century, it seems appropriate to assess not only where we have come from, but also where we might be headed. To this end, I recently interviewed five individuals with a diverse range of experience in public management: Amy Chan, Cynthia Eisenhauer, Mordecai Lee, Timothy Riordan, and Pamela Syfert.
Amy Chan was appointed city manager of the City of Sunnyvale, California, in November 2004. Prior to this appointment, she served as assistant city manager for 10 years and as director of finance for 11 years. Chan has been closely involved in the long-term planning and performance measurement efforts that have earned Sunnyvale national acclaim as a progressive government. She served on the GFOA Executive Board from 1988 to 1991.
Governor Thomas J. Vilsack appointed Cynthia Eisenhauer director of the Department of Management in 1999. She has also served as director of Iowa Workforce Development, director of business and finance for the Iowa State Board of Regents, division director for the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance, and executive director of the Iowa Campaign Disclosure Commission. A champion of government reform, Eisenhauer has led initiatives that earned the National Public Administrator of the Year Award from the National Employers Council, the Innovation in Government Award from the Ford Foundation, and the Excellence in Public Service Award from the National Public Employees Roundtable.
Mordecai Lee is associate professor of governmental affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Among other responsibilities, he coordinates govtraining.org, the University of Wisconsin's online catalog of educational programs designed to meet the professional development needs of government officials and managers. Lee has served as a Wisconsin state senator and state representative, and as a member of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission, where he chaired the Finance and Personnel Committee.
Timothy Riordan, a former GFOA president, recently retired as deputy city manager of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, capping a 35-year career in local government. Before joining the City of Cincinnati in 1999 as finance director, he worked for the City of Dayton for 19 years, serving as budget director, finance director, and deputy director of the Dayton International Airport. Riordan is now working part-time for the mayor of Cincinnati on workforce development and economic development issues.
Pamela Syfert is city manager of the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Prior to being appointed city manager in 1996, she served as the deputy city manager and as an assistant city manager. In 1999, Syfert was named Public Official of the Year by Governing magazine for her work in moving Charlotte toward the Balanced Scorecard model of performance measurement.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A LEADER? SPECIFICALLY, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A LEADER IN THE PUBLIC FINANCE PROFESSION?
Eisenhauer: Before Governor Vilsack asked me to be interim chief of staff, he asked all of the management team members to describe for him the qualities that we thought he should look for in a chief of staff, or in a leader of state government. I listed six qualities that I think are worth sharing here. The first one is honesty and integrity. Every constituent group, department director, staff, legislator, and the media must believe the chief of staff is speaking the truth and is consistent. Next is responsibility and accountability. A leader has to keep promises, follow through on requests, and be responsive to questions in a timely and accurate manner. The third quality is being proactive. A leader should create opportunities for communications and problem solving both The next one is consultative. A leader takes advantage of diverse skills, knowledge, and perspectives. The fifth quality is humility. A leader needs to be primarily motivated to achieve the leadership agenda, not to create a name for his or herself or get more money or perks. I describe the last quality as vital leadership and inspirational spirit. A leader must lead by example. While we can't always control what happens to us, we can control how we respond. These are the qualities I think a leader in public service ought to have.
Lee: First, a leader is the opposite of the waiter or waitress who says, "That's not my table," or the old punch line, "I don't do windows." I recently asked a question of the department head of a large nonprofit agency. She said she wasn't sure about the answer and referred me to a subordinate who'd be able to give me more details. When I kidded her that I thought she was the all-powerful and all-knowing department head but instead she was deferring to a subordinate, she responded semi-seriously, "Yup. I'm in charge of all the important things, like picking up trash in the halls." In retrospect, what she was saying was that as a leader she was ultimately responsible for everything. That included the stuff that wasn't in her position description, but that nonetheless related to quality service. If it meant picking up some litter, so be it. That was part of her job as far as she was concerned. To me, she had defined leadership. A public finance professional wants the entire organization to be successful, not just the finance department.
Second, a leader in the public finance profession is one who always asks: "How can I make democracy work better?" It's not enough to have installed the perfect budgeting software or to have great compliance with the latest GASB standards. How did all the things you worked on contribute to the ideal of democracy? Not just bigger bang for the buck (although that's part of it), but also to concepts such as accountability, responsiveness, informed citizenry, trust, and citizen ownership. This is the difference between a career in government finance and business finance.
Riordan: I've developed a five-part leadership theory over a long career in local government. The first thing I think a leader has to do to be successful is to provide direction. You have to state clearly to people what's expected. Where are we trying to go? And where are we now? This entails some measurement. People want to know if they have made it, or how far they have left to go. Once you have set the direction--the "what ought to be"--the staff can then figure out how to achieve the goal. Without clear direction, leadership is irrelevant.
The second part is what I call protection. If you're going to be the leader, the people working for you have to know that politically you'll take the heat, if that's necessary. They have to know that you can and will open doors for them. They have to know that you can and will get them the resources they need. They have to know that you will protect them, so to speak, from budget shortfalls. Of course, you have to have a power base to be able to protect your people. If they believe you can provide political cover, they will be much more likely to buy into your direction.
The third thing is passion. It makes a big difference when you really believe in what you're talking about. People can sense that very easily--whether you're just making it up or going through the motions. Your best leadership events will occur on issues that you are most passionate about.
When you put all of these things together--a clear direction, capable protection, passion--your people have liberation. They begin to think: "We can now do what we believe is right and what needs to be done, and we can do it in a logical, rational way." And when you can succeed in achieving liberation for your people, the end result is what we're all looking for, and that's production.
Syfert: A leader has to be able to pull people together around the organization's long-range strategic vision. A leader keeps that vision in front of people so that when they get lost in the day-to-day ... they can say, "What we're working toward here is a vision--we want our city to look like this, we want our organization to be a model of excellence." A leader has to have the ability to look into the future and articulate a vision, and keep people working toward that. Leadership has to be consensus building, team building, and visionary.
Leadership can have positive and negative connotations. Hitler was a leader in many ways, but he represents a very negative type of leadership. Some of our modern business leaders, such as those at Enron, were respected as great leaders for turning their organizations around, and are now known to have acted unethically and illegally. In my mind, that represents the negative side of leadership. So leadership can involve imposing your view on an organization or imposing your will on others. Even though you may accomplish some big things, this type of leadership is not sustainable for an organization.
ARE LEADERS BORN OR MADE? CAN FINANCE OFFICERS BE TRAINED TO BECOME LEADERS?
Chan: I think everyone has the opportunity to learn. But the part that is thorny has to do with your interest and commitment--whether you have the interest to take on the challenge. Being a leader means you will confront many, many challenges. You must not be afraid of making a mistake. You have to be able to learn from your mistakes and move on. The bottom line is that you have to want to be a leader--you have to commit to that. I think that's the born part. I fall on the side of learned skills, but it's really the opportunities--the motivation the opportunity creates--that gives people the energy and excitement and commitment.
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