Chapter 4Who Works in Government and What Is Their Motivation?

“You'll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.”

—Lou Holtz, retired football coach, sportscaster, author, and motivational speaker

GOVERNMENTS AND THEIR RELATED ENTITIES are established to promote many common goals. The public entity and structure of governmental agencies play a large part in how they operate on a day‐to‐day basis. However, the most important ingredient in the final mix of governmental entities is to remember the fact that the staff and leadership are human beings placed in charge of the workings within these public entities. This chapter gives a guided tour through the various types of beasts that one may encounter in the government service jungle. Some of these creatures are like the most stunningly beautiful kings of the jungle—such as lions—who wield power with grace, skill, pride, loyalty, and survival‐of‐the‐fittest ethics. Others are the most vile, dangerous creatures that one may find anywhere in the world. Creatures of evil substance, bad intentions, and malicious behavior are unfortunately just more common on the forest floor. They are the poisonous snakes that sneak up and strike with ...

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