Written for the 19 million-plus current public sector managers who grind through every day, this book argues for a whole new way of being a public manager, one that affects what managers do, how they do it, and who they are as people. A public manager herself and successful consultant in the public sector, Camaron J.

Thomas introduces a new paradigm for how the public sector should work: a collaborative, functional environment in which fast-paced, purposeful change, civility, and initiative are actually the norm. It replaces the concept of agencies and control with shared responsibility, and tests the idea in the arena of public sector budgeting. Most importantly, it recognizes that it is managers themselves who must change, one at a time, if the profession is ever going to improve.