Tag: public transit innovation
SEPTA’s Leslie Richards: Passionate Out of the Box Innovator-in-Chief
What I call “out of the box” innovation is the road less traveled for many if not most public and nonprofit organizations for a number reasons. Out of the box innovation focuses on addressing issues – change challenges in the form of both problem and opportunities – that force an organization outside the “box” of its current mission and operating plan/budget. Perhaps the most formidable barrier making this kind of innovation the exception to the rule is the very normal human resistance to significant change. But a close second is the absence of really strong, hands-on chief executive leadership. I’ve … Read the rest
Access Services’ Andre Colaiace: Transformational Change Leader Extraordinaire
Andre Colaiace, Executive Director of Access Services in Los Angeles County, CA, and a member of this blog’s CEO Advisory Committee, is a prime example of a new breed of public/nonprofit chief executive officers I’m encountering with increasing frequency around the country: the Transformational Change Leader. In a nutshell, the Transformational Change Leader spearheads one or more significant innovation initiatives that transform the organization she or he leads, making a substantial, lasting difference, in terms of organizational impact and, often, culture. In Andre’s case, his chosen innovation initiative was the transformation of Access Services’ governance function, primarily by updating the … Read the rest
Denver RTD’s CEO David Genova Talks About “Reimagine RTD”
Whenever I’m contacted by an executive team member asking if I’d be interested in providing assistance to some kind of strategic planning process the transit authority is launching, I always respond the same: I won’t know until I’ve spent an hour or two talking with the authority’s chief executive officer. And when the CEO and I do talk, I’m really interested in hearing her describe in detail the specific outcomes she wants the process to produce and how far out of the “box” of current operations the CEO is willing to have the process go. And I’m also very interested … Read the rest
METRO’s CEO Tom Lambert: Consummate Innovator-in-Chief
The podcast that Tom Lambert, President & CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, recorded for this blog describes METRO’s new Office of Innovation, which has proved to be a very effective generator of “out of the box” change initiatives. Reporting directly to Tom, the Office isn’t a traditional planning organization. Rather, it fosters, nurtures and pilot tests practical innovation projects in partnership with internal operational units and with external stakeholder organizations. As Tom points out, the success of the office owes much to a highly supportive METRO Board of Directors that accepts that while most initiatives will … Read the rest
CEO Dave Genova on Getting Stakeholder Engagement Right at RTD-Denver
You’ll recall that in earlier posts at this blog we’ve defined “stakeholders” as individuals, groups, and organizations it makes sense to build and maintain relationships with because something important is at stake. For example, the office of the mayor and board of county commissioners in your region are always primo stakeholders whose political – and often financial – support are tremendously important to your authority. Over my 30 years of work with public transit CEOs and their boards I’ve come across more than one case of poorly planned and managed stakeholder engagement. This is really unfortunate since the support of … Read the rest
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