No Accountability!

As someone who has experience in both the private and public sectors, are there ways that leadership is different in those two worlds, in the private sector and working for the government?

I think there are differences. There's this common refrain that somehow government is not really accountable, particularly if you work in an institution and you're not an elected official, there's a sense that there's a lack of accountability. I actually think that that's somewhat false. I think there is quite a bit of accountability within government. Clearly, there's congressional oversight. But I also think that there's just accountability within the management chains, probably not as immediate. The action and reaction in the government is probably not as immediate as it is in the private sector, which bottom lines can make things very clear. But I think at the end of the day, the types of leaders that you need in both of these sectors are very, very common. There's a lot of common characteristics.

Such as? In what ways are there common characteristics for leadership?

I think you need people who are results driven, who are creative, who are willing to find solutions to problems and try new things. And I also think you need people who are able to manage processes and make sure the processes occur the way they're supposed to occur. So you get the benefit of the process and all of the diverse ideas.