Leadership &

Management

"Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things."

- Peter F. Drucker -

Managing Public Organizations

New York City's Department for the Aging (DFTA) was commissioned in 1975 as part of a federal initiative formalized by the Older Americans Act. The NYC DFTA is responsible for addressing the needs of NYC's over 1.5 million senior residents. The agency provides meals, education, counseling, in-person activities, and case worker support for all eligible seniors through the partnership of its 20 agency departments which report to the agency commissioner. Such an extensive organization requires strong leadership and effective management policies to succeed in its mission. Bringing together public agency information and insights drawn from DFTA employee interviews, I produced a mock memorandum highlighting some managerial weaknesses in the DFTA and some recommendations on how to address these weaknesses. This memo was a project completed for the Summer 2020 Managing Public Organizations course.

Work Sample

Results Driven Strategic Management

Effective and formative public leadership is a difficult endeavor. This difficulty is made even more profound in times of public crisis. Public sector leaders are responsible for navigating the always uncertain currents of modern society. They must be ready to respond to the needs of those they serve and effectively respond to situations and public crises when they arise. This need for effective leadership has been brought into harsh relief during the Covid-19 Pandemic as elected officials and public sector leaders were faced with immense and unprecedented public challenges. What factors determine effective public leadership? How is success or failure in leadership measured, especially in times of crisis? How is measuring effective leadership helpful and can its results help leaders prepare for future crises? These needs and questions are addressed in an essay prepared for my Fall 2020 Results Driven Strategic Management Course.