Ask Zimmerman

PETER ZIMMERMAN MPP 1977, senior associate dean for program development and executive education, has been at the helm of the Kennedy School’s executive programs since the very beginning in the late 1970s. He has worked for the Navy’s Strategic Systems Project Office, the National Security Council, and the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

How did executive programs get its start at the Kennedy School?
When the War Production Board needed to transform and mobilize our country’s focus during World War II from a peacetime to a wartime economy, it tapped Harvard to come up with crash courses for the executives who ran and transformed those wartime industries. For example, instead of producing cars, the focus then was on producing tanks, fighter aircraft, and submarines for war.

Fast-forward to 1976 when the Kennedy School and the Business School decided to collaborate on an executive program called Senior Managers in Government. Then, on our own, we launched the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security (1978), Senior Executives in State and Local Government (1979), and Senior Executive Fellows in 1980 — the same year we took over the Senior Managers in Government Program from the Business School.

How do executive programs arm public managers with the tools they need to succeed?
Executive programs bring faculty together with senior practitioners in public service to enrich and educate both. Our faculty provide the concepts, insights, and analytic tools. Mayors, police chiefs, and local development officials from around the world then test those concepts to see if they work in the “real world.”

As Dean Joseph S. Nye, Jr., likes to say, “These programs go ‘straight to the target.’”

What are some of the challenges faced by participants?
Around the world, people are demanding more from their public leaders and their governments. Terrorism, disease, and war are now global. Add to that the fast pace of events and the emerging role of nonstate actors — whether that’s the International Campaign to Ban Landmines or terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda.

Public leaders face a much more complex, fast-paced, open world where they can no longer rely on traditional notions of authority. Our programs help them to develop new strategies for effective leadership in the modern world.

How has executive programs changed through the years?
We first focused on the American government audience, but now we’re more global in our outreach and programming. Our participants include professionals from nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, and the private sector, in addition to those working in government.

Our programs have evolved from a competitive enrollment process to customized programs for organizations such as the Red Cross or the country of Kuwait, which take our faculty members right into the heart of these organizations.

World-class Training for Local Officials
Strategies for Navigating the Uncertainties of Today’s World

YOU'RE THE MAYOR OF A CITY located in the northeastern section of the United States, and a decision comes down from the Department of Homeland Security raising the national threat level from “elevated” to “high risk” for a terrorist attack. Terrorist bombings in Morocco and Saudi Arabia indicate that Al Qaeda may indeed be planning attacks on the United States. The impact on you and your resources: You’ve got to put more police on patrol, provide increased security at your ports and historical landmarks, coordinate emergency plans with mayors in nearby cities, and ensure that your emergency response team is ready to roll should the worst happen — a terrorist attack on your city.

You’ve already slashed your neighborhood development budget by 40 percent and your largest human services program by 7 percent. Now you’ll need to fire 600 teachers from your large urban school system. Nearly 600,000 people are depending on you to keep them safe, educate their children, and improve the city. The demands on your time and resources are growing increasingly intense.
Enter one of the Kennedy School’s older executive programs, called Senior Executives in State and Local Government, an intensive, interactive, three-week session that runs every February, June, and July. Designed to fortify state and local public managers with innovative ways of managing the real-world challenges and crises of government, the program provides participants with a “safe place” to step back to develop and evaluate new policy alternatives and consider options for organizing and deploying resources, strategies, information, and services.

In classroom and small discussion groups with senior-level executives and elected officials from state, county, and local governments, the program creates a space for participants to develop new conceptual frameworks for addressing policy issues, explore the interrelationship between citizens and government, and wrestle with the ethical and professional responsibilities of leadership — all while exchanging ideas with other public managers and Kennedy School faculty members such as Marty Linsky IOP 1973, Ronald Heifetz MPA 1983, Dutch Leonard, and Gary Orren.

“Between one-half and one-third of those running for Congress every election cycle have been through the State and Local Program,” says Annette Wilson, associate director of executive programs. “And these are some of the most passionate, committed people you’ll ever meet,” she insists. “They love what they do, and they really want to make a difference.”

Highfliers

Participants come to executive programs at the Kennedy School from all over the world and from all walks of life. Here are just a few of our well-known alums:

Jeff Bingamen NISM 1983 and SMG 1979, U.S. senator (D-NM), took part in both Senior Managers in Government and the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security.

Brigadier General Vincent Brooks NSF 1999, who currently serves as deputy operations director at the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, was a National Security Fellow.

General Richard Myers NISM 1991, chairperson of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, took part in the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security.

Chellie Pingree S&L 1996, president of Common Cause, took part in Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Jose Ramos-Horta LID 1998 has been the leading international spokesperson for East Timor since 1975, and participated in the Leaders in Development Program.

Morgan Tsvangirai LID 2001 is currently president of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe’s newest and strongest opposition political party.