Why write a book of stories about getting things done?
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A very short story of my long life.
I love stories. Through stories, I learned to play, to work, to love, and to live. Stories inspired me to do what I didn’t know I could do.
I was inspired by my father’s stories of how he accomplished much by taking the first step on building projects not knowing the next. My mother’s stories of teaching in a one-room school house taught me that good work can happen in less than ideal conditions as I learned in the Peace Corps.
Looking back on my long life, I see a pattern of learning from stories. It was not always a story told, but one lived by another that I tried to emulate. During my early years, I was moved to help poor people, to improve my community, and to not only talk, but to get things done. Indeed I was motivated to public service.
I wrote Getting Things Done to share stories about how I got things done in government and the public sector generally. Most people who choose a career of public service aim to accomplish great things, but too many don’t. This is often caused by a lack of knowledge and by the unanticipated challenges posed by work in the public realm.
Public service, especially politics, is a high calling in a grubby world. It’s more demanding intellectually, emotionally, physically, and morally than most people fully understand. This I learned during my decades of public service, especially as city council president, mayor, school board president, and Peace Corps director in Haiti.
In Getting Things Done I share what I learned as a public servant – how I dealt with projects and incidents large and small, and how I coped with successes and disappointments. The book is my modest attempt to help elected officials, other public servants, and the general public to gain insights into the challenges and rewards of public service.
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