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Editor’s Note: This column, “LBWA” (Leadership By Wandering Around), is based on the premise that, in order to find out what’s going on in the field, a parks and rec leader has to leave his or her desk and “wander around” the area of operations, talk to people, ask questions, and kick around ideas with the individuals in the thick of delivering services to the public. So the author will bring up issues and ask the leaders among the readership to share their knowledge and experiences.
Since the economy took a turn for the worse, I’ve frequently heard people refer to government and say, “If this was a commercial business, it would never survive running this way.” This philosophy, initially applied to the federal government, has now come down to the local level.
Before, I thought it was a valid perspective--public administrators should be just as prepared to make the same hard personnel and operations decisions as their counterparts in business. But I’m beginning to wonder if that’s truly the case. Perhaps there is a fundamental distinction between business and government that makes leadership in each sector function differently.
Enter The Entrepreneur
Last year, Kim Uhlik, an academic in the recreation and tourism fields and a frequent contributor to PRB, wrote an article about this topic, titled “Enter The Entrepreneur.” He very succinctly laid out the problem: public-revenue shortfalls have necessitated public-recreation professionals to start acting more like business entrepreneurs.
