Strategic planning in government: Lessons from a city manager

Measure Success Podcast

In This Episode:

While strategic planning certainly plays a huge role in the business world, a version of strategic planning also drives our local, state, and federal government. We usually just don’t notice it, because we can’t see behind the scenes. But there are still important lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from those who have worked in the public sector. Our guest this week is someone who has plenty to teach.

Andy Takata has worked as a city manager and has over 21 years of experience with three full-service cities and two contract cities. He’s worked in economic development, planning, recreation, development, and municipal-operated water, wastewater, and electrical utilities.

Tune into the full conversation for more on some of the differences in effective strategic planning for the private sector vs the public sector, how to avoid getting distracted by “shiny objects” when you already have a set plan (plus the potential benefits of noticing those shiny objects), Andy’s experience officiating water polo at the Olympics, and a lot more.

Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn:

• What Andy does now, and why he came out of retirement in order to do it

• The two main forms of local government and the differences in how cities are run

• How long it takes to complete projects at the governmental level, and why these processes can sometimes take a long time

• How to deal with differences in political ideologies when crafting and executing long-term strategic plans for cities and communities

• The differences in how success is measured in the public sector vs in the private sector

• How Andy got involved with water polo, and how he worked his way up to eventually refereeing at the Olympics

• How Andy has built effective habits in his life and how those habits enabled him to keep a balance in his life despite being involved in so many things

• The difference between being “busy” and “busy strategically”

• How Andy has been able to avoid shiny object syndrome in his work, and the advice he would give to others to not get distracted by things that won’t move you forward

• One surprising observation that Andy had about the world-class athletes at the Olympics (and the ones who didn’t make the cut)

• How Andy measures success in his personal life — and how that might shift as he prepares to head into his second retirement

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• The city of DuPont, Washington

• Andy Takata on LinkedIn

• “If it Ain’t Broke…Break It!: And Other Unconventional Wisdom for a Changing Business World” by Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Palter

• “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t” by Jim Collins

• “For the Love of Cities” by Peter Kageyama

• “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey

• Buy a copy of “Lost at CEO: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Strategy” by Carl J. Cox

• 40 Strategy

• Contact 40 Strategy

• Carl J. Cox on LinkedIn