If We Can Put a Man on the Moon...: Getting Big Things Done in Government

by William D. Eggers, John O'Leary, John O'Leary, et al.

Book Overview

The American people are frustrated with their government-dismayed by a series of high-profile failures (Iraq, Katrina, the financial meltdown) that seems to just keep getting longer. Yet our nation has a proud history of great achievements: victory in World War II, our national highway system, welfare reform, the moon landing. We need more successes like these to reclaim government's legacy of competence. In If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, William...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1422166368
• ISBN13: 9781422166369
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A Roadmap towards America's Future

In Man on the Moon, Eggers and O'Leary have written a book that is engaging, convincing, and very important. The insights and the examples, aided by the tone and language, make the book very hard to put down. After thirty years in government, ranging from crafting the response to the first oil embargo in 1973 to a leadership role in Vice President Gore's National Performance Review, I can truly say that the authors understand both the problems and the opportunities presented by our Federal system. Today's global, national, and societal problems are complex, critical, and urgent. The way forward must include a roadmap such as this book: detailed, thorough, documented, and presented in almost handbook form. Eggers and O'Leary offer excellent suggestions for everything but the filibuster rule in the Senate!

TOPS IN ITS CLASS

Using a case study style, this unprecedented book dissects with inspiring objectivity the steps taken in creating the laws of the land. It describes and categorizes the pitfalls leading to failure, and the human factors necessary for success. This is a text without bias whether the reader is a Democrat, Independent or Republican. The cases are current, and therefore particularly pertinent, making the reading enjoyable and easy. I find myself purchasing this book for friends and give it my highest rating. Dr. Edward Mahoney Retired Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Reads like a novel

It was so refreshing to finally pick up a public policy book that made me want to keep turning the page. "If We Can Put a Man on the Moon" not only puts to shame the non-stop pundit opinions we hear on T.V. and radio but it gives you a great lesson in history at the same time. The book doesn't tell you what to think or spin facts in such a way that you have no choice but to agree with the author's train of thought. Instead, it feels like a conversation with an intelligent person. Each statement is backed up with a historical example, so that you can do more than just memorize the author's strategy for successful government; you can envision it. This book is a must read for not only political junkies and members of government, but for any person who cares about their country and wants to see it change for the better.

Putting Aside the Rhetoric to get to What Matters

If We Can Put a Man on the Moon is must reading for everyone who cares about government. And that should be everybody because, whether we like it or not, government makes the decisions that will affect not only our lives, but our children's. Regardless of one's partisan leanings, most of us are tired of the competing spin that now passes for political discourse. This book gets past all that by using real-life examples to demonstrate how government succeeded in large undertakings at which it succeeded and where it went wrong when it failed. Sadly, there are far more recent examples of the latter. Two things make the book stand out. The first is the authors' ability to focus on results by ignoring which side proposed an idea and who would get credit or blame for it. Instead, they focus on what a program's goal was, whether it got to the finish line and why (or why not). The second attribute is how the book is written. You will not for one minute think you're reading a text book. Instead, you will find yourself engrossed in the case studies. You won't even realize that you're (gasp) learning something! I hope this book is read by all the federal and state elected officials with whom I find myself becoming increasingly disillusioned. It's a road map for how government can make the really important things work.

This renewed my faith in government

Eggers and O'Leary have really nailed it in this wonderfully crafted work. Any person with a remote interest in government and how to make it better, be it voters who have lost faith in our representatives' ability to deliver on big promises, to government officials looking for a roadmap to actually deliver on campaign promises and getting the most of his or her time in office, this is a must read. And I don't mean a cursory pass or having an intern provide coverage. This is a powerful book worthy of an active read with a highlighter and a handful of post-it notes. Every government official, from the local dog catcher to the senate majority leader should be required to digest Eggers' and O'Leary's modern day manifesto for getting government to do big things (and not just voicing hollow promises). This book will never be mistaken for a boring, required text reserved for freshman political science students. Rather it is a creative, thoughtful and often witty book, read easily on a tropical vacation, at your desk or on your couch. If our representative government, often mired by inefficiencies and unmotivated, life-long government workers who believe their position with the Federal government is an entitlement rather than an opportunity, is ever going to again accomplish exceptional achievements like putting a man on the moon, then this book must be an essential tool. A blueprint for delivering on the promises of reforming healthcare and addressing global warming lie in the pages of this book. Let's hope those charged with delivering on making government better have the courage to heed the words of Eggers and O'Leary.