To understand the challenges of political leadership and how top executives

succeed in accomplishing an Administration’s objectives, business-in-government

experts Paul R. Lawrence and Mark A. Abramson present the findings

of a four-year study of top political appointees in the Obama Administration.

The 42 participants—Deputy Secretaries and agency heads—provide case

studies of how each approaches the management challenges and achieves

the mission of their organization.

Full of behind-the-scenes insights and practical advice from government political

executives on how they face management challenges in real time, What

Government Does: How Political Executives Manage offers indispensable insights

to current and prospective political appointees and everyone interested

in understanding how leaders make government agencies more effective.

The new book, a follow-up to their previous book, Paths to Making a

Difference: Leading in Government, presents an insightful framework of what

government does. Instead of thinking about government by policy area, the

authors present an alternative approach in which government executives are

categorized by the type of agency they are managing. The book includes

chapters on Deputy Secretaries, producers, regulators, infrastructors, scientists,

and collaborators.