On Government In Plain Language, host MaBinti Yillah looks to un-complicate the business of American government. Each month, MaBinti interviews former federal leaders, executives, and academics to discuss organizational change, workplace transformation, and IT modernization in American government.
Government in Plain Language
Claim This Podcastby MSY Associates, LLC
5.0(1 reviews)
6 episodes
Updated Daily
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇺🇸
Podcast Overview
On Government In Plain Language, host MaBinti Yillah looks to un-complicate the business of American government. Each month, MaBinti interviews former federal leaders, executives, and academics to discuss organizational change, workplace transformation, and IT modernization in American government.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
7/20/2021
1 verified contact email on file for Government in Plain Language
Pitch yourself as a guest, propose sponsorships, or reach out directly to the host.
Recent Episodes
November 23, 2021
Episode 6 Innovation & Entrepreneurship - w/ Conrad Hollomon
<p>Thanks for joining us on another episode of Government in Plain Language with your host, MaBinti Yillah. This episode, we’re talking to Conrad Hollomon, Senior Technical PM at Unity Technologies, a leader in creating and operating 3D content in real-time.</p> <p>Conrad’s journey to entrepreneurship took him through multiple potential pathways, including playing gigs as a musician, and the next morning standing in formation with the Army ROTC. In doing so, he positioned himself to hold two careers-one as an infantry officer and the other blending his passion for technology and music. The biggest challenge, Conrad notes, is the translation between different cultures. Having the agility to execute, partnered with the flexibility that comes with certain roles, makes for innovation at the highest degree.</p> <p>Conrad works with the military from a tech perspective. At the junction of innovation and entrepreneurship, he was able to help solve challenges that the Dept. of Justice faces every day. That developed the two main pillars of success for teams he worked on: diversity of thought and psychological safety. Being able to incorporate different perspectives and backgrounds is key to innovation. The biggest part is the team’s ability to communicate effectively with everyone, the ability to see and respect the different perspectives, and value what everybody on that team provides.</p> <p>Organizational transformation on a large scale can look two different ways. The first, Conrad illustrates, is when a team of innovators--the brightest of the bright in an organization, are given room to innovate. This is about the autonomy, purpose, and mastery of the work they do. It also requires the organization to follow suit in culture. If there are innovators at a non-innovative place, there will be clashes of interest. Transformation also happens quietly. Often the biggest shifts don’t come from a big splash, they come from a small, highly motivated group of innovators. There is always risk in giving a team a budget and letting them run with it, but the only way to invite success is by allowing them to work. The challenges here come with communicating the right thing at the right time in the right level of detail. Socializing new ideas is a difficult hurdle for innovation.</p> <p>This change is often reactionary, not intentional. This has much to do with the size of the organization. The bigger the organization, the more specific the tasks. There has to be something chasing that organization to get full alignment on change. Urgency can get slowed at dozens of points, so getting the change to happen can be a hard mountain to move. Conrad understands the importance of seeing other perspectives. It’s about getting in line with the leadership, those who are looking to connect dots, and the execution, those who are focused on one dot.</p> <p>When change is being looked at, the people aspect is often overlooked by large organizations. Success happens when leadership is looked at as its own skill. What makes a leader is people’s trust in you. This happens with training and investing in people first. Demonstrating through the organization’s actions that they are committed to their team’s personal success motivates those leaders. In government, we often have leaders who are mission driven competing with those who aren’t.</p> <p>There is a massive technology gap between the government and private sectors. Catching the government up could mean building a team to grow alongside current processes to help introduce new steps. There are people who will view this as a threat. It falls on leadership to find a way to transition team members from one way to the next. It’s no wonder there is distrust of the government when we consider the generations raised understanding the government is either malicious, incompetent, or lazy. This is combated by electing members of the government who represent and lead the charge as civic servants.</p>
October 21, 2021
Episode 5 - Optimizing Government Funding in a Meaningful and Streamlined Way w/ Sedale Turbovsky
Welcome back to Government In Plain Language with your host, MaBinti Yillah. Today, we’re sitting down with Sedale Turbovsky, founder and CEO of OpenGrants, where he helps entrepreneurs apply for and manage grants. Sedale considers himself a strategic funding specialist. He’s spent a lot of time and experienced a lot of how to layer funding strategically for a company in order to get them to where they need to go, without having to only rely on certain kinds of capital. There are often restrictions with government funding and grants, and Sedale helps navigate that space. In that line, Sedale’s biggest takeaway from working so closely within the government and federal funding ecosystem is that it is truly relationship-based. Often the government is looked at as a slow-moving monolith, which is true, but it’s not necessarily their fault. The systems they have in place are old and a product of their bureaucracy. They desperately need help and tools that function properly. They need to be empowered to make better decisions. The crux of much of the negativity is in the systems, not the people. There are serious things at stake--cyber security, military well-being, and economic competitiveness--and the simplest tasks become inefficient and useless. There are a lot of moving parts, and therein lies the problem. For years, the government has had a very narrow, operational perspective, but not for much longer. There are more powers given to agencies to write checks for big swaths and diverse groups of innovators because the government has been this great risk-taker of innovation. Many incredible things that have changed the way we live our lives and do business have been funded by the government. The problem has been that, the issues have gotten more technical and harder to solve. The groups of people solving them have gotten bigger. Both venture capitalists and the government are after the same thing: the next billion-dollar unicorn. The problem is the government can’t keep up. There is an incredible moment to make government opportunities more accessible. OpenGrants does just that. They are a search engine and marketplace where users can sign up on the platform and get matched to or search for grant funding. On the heels of that matching, OpenGrants will connect you to experts, who they've vetted, who can help you secure that funding. Ultimately, they streamline the process and help smooth over the challenges that come with getting federal funding. So, if you can get $10 million in federal funding, why aren’t more entrepreneurs applying? Besides the infrastructural difficulties, the speed at which the funding happens is a major issue. In many cases, you can get venture funding in a fraction of the time and get to market to make money before the government would even be able to take part in the process. The user experience isn’t there. What can entrepreneurs do now to be more active in the market, and win grants? The answer is to just be at the table. The reason that a lot of companies are really successful is that they're highly engaged in responding to RFI’s and shaping the viewpoint that directs the solution to them. Key characteristics of a strong applicant for federal grants or funding include being highly organized. You should have all your logistics in a box. HR, salaries, accounting, and legal should all be buttoned down. In addition, having a good track record of being an honest, respectable individual will go a long way. Finally, understand your story. What impact are you making? What is the market opportunity? We’re presented with a potential future where the government is outpaced by the private sector and fades into irrelevancy. We saw this in the pandemic. For many, the best responses to the pandemic came from private companies. The lack of response from the government wasn’t driven by incompetency, it was driven by a failure in system and tools.
September 23, 2021
Episode 4 - Understanding DC Government & The Case for DC Statehood with Angela Thornton
<p>On this episode, MaBinti sits down with powerhouse D.C. lawyer Angela Thornton. Angela pursued a career in law to combine her interest in child welfare with government practice. She passed the Bar in Massachusetts, District of Columbia, and Georgia and later returned to her native D.C. to work as the Disciplinary Hearing Counselor with the Youth Services Administration. Later, she transitioned to the Civil Protection Prosecution team in the area of Child Abuse and Neglect. She currently works as the Chief Advancement Officer with the Center for Children and Young Adults.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Angela worked hard to give her office a voice at the table regarding decisions involving the courts and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Her office plays such an integral role in day-to-day law since the District of Columbia does not have statehood. They launched several different courts to make the court less divisive and more focused on the welfare of the child. During Angela's tenure, the federal government was willing to send their shareholders to work closely with the local, private, and community courts in D.C. in order to create a bigger impact. The government needs a neutral place to ensure the child in question is being cared for psychologically, physically, and academically. Thus, bringing all the different groups and courts together and keeping an open line of communication is a key piece of child welfare.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Angela learned through her work in management that it's key to maintain continuity and presence. You can't launch a great program and walk away from it because you risk losing ground. Homeless youths who can't vote and are considered less-than still need a level playing field. So, developing a skillset to work with the community and the underdogs is integral to success in Angela’s current position. There's no prestige in this work, but a lot of compassion and helping these youths grow up to be contributing members of our community.</p> <p><br></p> <p>One of the major changes that have taken place during Angela's career in the in D.C. government has been a push in pay. When she came into her field, the average salary was less than that of social workers. This meant that D.C. often saw quite a talent gap because other states could attract better talent with better pay. Recruiting can also pose a problem, and it helps to know someone on the inside because there's a lot you can't glean from resumes and references. In addition, inclusion is essential to government and child welfare, and open-minded teammates are critical to continued development. Since starting in her field, the key difference Angela has seen is diversity on the hiring committee and the evolution of experience to see where the gaps were in hiring.</p> <p><br></p> <p>D.C. is also limited by its lack of statehood and representation in Congress, which directly impacts the flexibility of the talent its agencies take on. In addition, the city doesn't fully control its budget and funding and it relies t on many of their federal counterparts to be their voice in Congress. Angela argues that agencies need to work with others from the bottom to the top. We tend to focus on the top, but we have a responsibility to focus on the bottom rung of society. We owe it to them to assist them in getting appropriate promotions and guidance to become contributing members of society. We also need more transparency between agencies and to increase the mentoring process.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Things You Will Learn:</p> <ol> <li>Background on Angela Thornton's background in government and child welfare.</li> <li>How federal, local, and private courts work together to advocate abused, neglected, and at-risk youths.</li> <li>How D.C.'s lack of statehood and representation in Congress impacts their budget funding and their work.</li> </ol>
6 total episodes available
Deep-dive analytics for Government in Plain Language
Frequently asked questions
Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
- What is Government in Plain Language?
- How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Information about guest appearances is not available.
Legal Disclaimer
Pod Engine is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with any of the podcasts displayed on this platform. We operate independently as a podcast discovery and analytics service.
All podcast artwork, thumbnails, and content displayed on this page are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to, podcast cover art, episode artwork, show descriptions, episode titles, transcripts, audio snippets, and any other content originating from the podcast creators or their licensors.
We display this content under fair use principles and/or implied license for the purpose of podcast discovery, information, and commentary. We make no claim of ownership over any podcast content, artwork, or related materials shown on this platform. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.
While we strive to ensure all content usage is properly authorized, if you are a rights holder and believe your content is being used inappropriately or without proper authorization, please contact us immediately at hey@podengine.ai for prompt review and appropriate action, which may include content removal or proper attribution.
By accessing and using this platform, you acknowledge and agree to respect all applicable copyright laws and intellectual property rights of content owners. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or commercial use of the content displayed on this platform is strictly prohibited.