ABSTRACT
Since the 1950s and 1960s, anyone who went to work for IBM, General Motors, Polaroid, Motorola, Xerox, General Electric, Kodak, U.S. Steel, DuPont, and many other ²agship organizations was provided with, and expected, lifelong employment. The same held true in federal and state governments. Generations of families worked in these organizations. The emergence of global competition changed that scenario in private industry forever, and every organization needed to rede¥ne and reinvent its business models to survive and remain competitive. Today, government is in a similar situation. Well-intentioned social programs that began with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and other administrations have evolved and helped many recipients, but globalization is also creating the need to rethink strategic intent, adjust priorities, question continued feasibility, and reinvent the process of government and service delivery at a more affordable cost. The model of government for the past half century was to solve every problem with more programs, more funding, and more resources. Today, this model is on the brink of bankrupting generations of Americans and jeopardizing their basic freedoms if we continue on the same course. Private industry evolved by learning how to focus on core competencies and how to do more with less, and there is a dire need for government to evolve in a similar manner. Governments and other not-for-pro¥t organizations have enjoyed the luxury of avoiding formal improvement initiatives because funding sources were always available.
