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    The Vision to Serve: Cultivating A Legacy of Public Service
    The Vision to Serve: Cultivating A Legacy of Public Service
    The Vision to Serve: Cultivating A Legacy of Public Service
    Ebook124 pages1 hour

    The Vision to Serve: Cultivating A Legacy of Public Service

    By Christopher Hershey

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    About this ebook

    Building the Future

    The Next Generation of Public Service Leaders

    What is a public servant? In general, the men and women who fill the roles of public servants are honest and principled people who feel a calling to the work. They may be teachers, librarians, police officers, firemen or social workers, elected officials such as mayors, administrators, city and county managers, sheriffs, state or national representatives and more. The common tie that binds them is a desire to serve. However, serving is sometimes not enough—everyone has met that one teacher, or officer, or city worker, who seems truly content, extremely helpful, the person who goes “above and beyond” in his or her work. These truly inspired, dedicated, and happy individuals may come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but they share something special: the vision to carry them through. This book is a way to share my own experience in public service, but more importantly, the lessons I have learned from others as mentors and as “ordinary” men and women whose simple actions make them great leaders and great examples for all of us to follow, as they pass the baton to the next generation of people who serve. If you seek a career in public service, already serve in some capacity, or are just interested in the truth behind the people who serve you as a citizen of your community, this book will inform, educate, and inspire you. If you have a desire to serve and change the world through changing the community that you live in, then this book is for you.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristopher Hershey
    Release dateJan 20, 2014
    ISBN9781311311368
    The Vision to Serve: Cultivating A Legacy of Public Service
    Author

    Christopher Hershey

    Christopher Hershey Christopher has cultivated a career in public service in many areas, most recently working in foreign affairs. As a dad, he is interested in making community engagement an integral part of kids’ learning and committed to bringing the idea of peace to the forefront of family life in general. Chris lives in Washington, D.C. with his incredible wife Rebecca and their three energetic young children.

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      Book preview

      The Vision to Serve - Christopher Hershey

      Preface

      If I can stop one heart from breaking,

      I shall not live in vain;

      If I can ease one life the aching,

      Or cool one pain,

      Or help one fainting robin

      Unto his nest again,

      I shall not live in vain.

      ~Emily Dickinson~

      Public service can be defined as time, effort and energy given to local, state or national communities, generally through opportunities in appointed or elected office. This may be the textbook meaning of the words, but the concept behind them is far more personal and complex.

      In my own career as a public servant, I have met many budding leaders eager to give of themselves in a meaningful way but in many ways still uninformed as to what a life of public service entails. It became apparent to me that while there are many motivational books and manuals to encourage these people to take up the cause and devote themselves to serving others, a comprehensive look into all the different facets of such an undertaking was missing.

      This handbook is meant as an attempt to explain what public service truly is, how it works, and what every person can do to make a difference. It touches on all levels of participation, whether you are entry-level, mid-level management or executive leadership. The range of people that can benefit from reading this book is wide and varied. City Managers, County Managers, Executive Directors, Budget Analysts, Finance Directors, Assistant to the City / County Managers, Military, City Council Members, County Commissioners, Politicians and Candidates, Nonprofit Board Members and Committee Members all serve in some capacity as public servants.

      My own career has taken many turns, but it has always been in a career of service. I have participated on local and federal levels, in as many capacities as possible. I have been a servant to my country. I am and continue to be a good and faithful servant to my God, family, and community. I have participated in the democratic process by serving as a congressional campaign manager, and as chief of staff to an elected official. As a military serviceman, a schoolteacher, a worker in the federal civil service, and a nonprofit executive, I have been exposed to the many and varied ways the public and private sector collide and interact. Private organizations can be designed to support military personnel. Communities can pull together to fund and support schools when the state and federal government funding falls short. There is an interdependency that becomes more apparent with every passing year, and strong men and women are needed with skills and vision to help the two worlds blend. I often tell people that I encounter that I have always been a servant and I consider it a privilege to serve; I know there are hundreds of thousands more who work selflessly towards the common good, and this book is perhaps more for them than anyone.

      Public service is about leadership, management and decision-making — but it boils down to people helping people. If everyone does something instead complaining that they can’t do anything, differences will be made in the lives of the people they come in contact with. If you have a calling for public service, heed it. You will never regret making the choice to devote yourself to the betterment of humanity.

      Chapter One:

      ‘We Choose to Serve’ - Why Public Servants Do What They Do

      The first duty of a human being is to assume the right functional relationship

      to society -- more briefly, to find your real job, and do it.

      ~Charlotte Perkins Gilman~

      Public service is a calling. Some may indeed find widespread recognition at the higher levels - the President himself is a public servant - but the majority of those who daily strive to improve this country are unsung heroes. They volunteer at our soup kitchens and shelters. They run our charities and our local hospitals. Public servants manage our counties and our cities, to keep our roads paved, our water running, and our civil and judicial court systems in operation. Few of them achieve fame or fortune; they simply lead the way to better and brighter things. Our national parks and forests depend on them, as do our libraries and our schools. Without public servants, our country would not exist. They are the people who make this country great.

      Public service has many different faces. Government agencies and non-governmental organizations rub elbows with private corporations and non-profit charities. International groups, local sponsorship programs and educational venues all benefit from the men and women who give their lives to working in the public sector. Today the need for strong, moral leadership is more important than ever. Future generations will be building on the structure that we leave them, and it is crucial that it stand the test of time. We need leaders who are willing to devote their time and efforts for the good of the public, and lay aside personal gain for the betterment of their fellow citizens. Anyone who is elected to their position by a vote of the American people is a public servant. Anyone who volunteers for the greater good is a public servant. Private corporations that contract to provide services to the public are by definition servants of that public, and philanthropists who put themselves forward to give of their time and money to those less fortunate than they are choose to be public servants.

      History holds many great examples of public servants who were leaders in their varied fields. Many were humanitarians; others were simply people driven to make a difference even as they pursued their chosen careers. All had the vision and dedication for our country that identified them as the servants of the people that they were. A list of famous public servants would include many past Presidents. Jefferson, Lincoln, Hoover and both Roosevelts were public servants in their own right before ascending to that office. Law enforcement can point to Wyatt Earp and David Reichert; the medical profession boasts such greats as Louis Pasteur and Clara Barton. Benjamin Franklin was a public servant; so were John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. They come from every walk of life, and are bound by one common goal - the betterment of their fellow man – be it through the provision of basic needs, education, or by the assurance of the continuance of freedoms promised by the Constitution. Each one seems to have found themselves almost irresistibly drawn to their role, sometimes pushed by the people around them who perceived their greatness and begged them to use it for the good of all.

      A person can have a desire to follow almost any type of career and still be a public servant. There are positions desperately needing leaders to fill them in every conceivable field, from the Peace Corps to the military, from the private sector to the highest government posts. Seeking public office is not for everyone, but there is always room for another volunteer, and the possibilities are endless. Public servants have the deep and abiding desire to help their fellow man; they are driven by the need to create new opportunities, to improve on the conditions they see in front of them and to explore every avenue that can be explored. A public servant is dedicated, assured and motivated to do his or her job better each day.

      Without these people, the infrastructure of the country could not exist. People of integrity are needed to stand up and be counted, to lead the way, to stand as a beacon to others and light the path to a better tomorrow. They do this by working on today, putting themselves forward in the here and now as examples and inspiration to others. The difficulties that face those involved in public service are many and familiar - struggles for funding, misunderstanding from the outside and strife from within. They must constantly battle to readjust the public’s perception of them and their value, and are handicapped by those less honest and dedicated than they.

      The public’s view of public servants is so often a poor one. Their contributions go unheralded and unrecognized, their efforts largely ignored. It takes a certain type of leader to be willing to lead without fanfare, without recognition, and without the trappings of a hero. Being a

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