Transcript “Execucrats,” Politics, and Public Policy: What are the Ingredients Federal Government?

“Execucrats,” Politics, and Public
Policy: What are the Ingredients
for Successful Performance in the
Federal Government?
Norma M. Riccucci, University at Albany, SUNY
Article Discussion by Maggie Gendron
What is an “Execucrat”?
• “Career executives and bureaucrats
who are not elected nor appointed
to office but are behind the making
of positive social and political
decisions that affect our country.”
– Norma Riccucci
Examining the Execucrat
• Study Design
– Looked at 6 Federal execucrats
– Selected from award recipients or
organizations that promoted excellence
– Seven factors analyzed:
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Political skills
Management & Leadership skills
Situational factors
Experience
Technical expertise
Strategy
Personality
The Six Execucrats:
• William Black – Litigation Director for Federal
Home Loan Bank Board;
• Eileen Claussen – Director of Atmospheric
Programs of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA);
• Ambassador Edward Perkins – U.S.
• ambassador to South Africa;
• Stephen Marcia - Assistant Inspector Genera; for
the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA);
• Dr. Vince Hutchins – Director of Human Services
Maternal and Child Health Bureau; and
• Dr. Helen Gayle – Epidemiologist from U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The “Ingredients” of Effective
Execucratic Performance
• Great communicators both internally
and externally (communities, other
agencies);
• Worked efficiently within political
sphere;
• Goal oriented;
• Spent most of their lives in
government work setting; and
• Assertive but gained trust of those
they worked around/with.
Moral Leadership
• Riccucci talked a lot about moral
leadership without really defining it.
• My definition (what I think Riccucci
would think):
– An Execucrat’s political and leadership
skills interacting with a specific
situation so that their technical
expertise, experience and personality
can influence that situation positively
(or for the good of the public).
My Thoughts
• Execucrat = positive traits of bureaucratic
leaders (opposite of what we think when
we think bureaucrat)
• Is there a difference between an execucrat
and an effective leader?
• Do execucrats have to be involved in
government?
• Who would be 2005 execucrats? UN
Ambassador Angelina Jolie, is she an
execucrat?
• In Vermont most effective execucrats may
be interest groups: Tobacco Coalition;
Healthy Vermonters
• Enron named
“uber-execucrat”
because of Enron's
purchased
statesman Henry
Kissinger