A passion for leadership : lessons on change and reform from fifty years of public service / Robert M. Gates.

Includes index.

Why bureaucracies so often fail us -- Where you want to go: "the vision thing" -- Formulating a strategy -- Techniques for implementing change -- It's always about people -- Stakeholders: friends and foes -- The agent of change: "mirror, mirror on the wall" -- Money, money, money: reforming in scarce times -- Reform: the never-ending story -- A flaming heart.

Across the realms of civic and private enterprise alike, bureaucracies vitally impact our security, freedoms, and everyday life. With so much at stake, competence, efficiency, and fiscal prudence are essential, yet Americans know these institutions fall short. Many despair that they are too big and too hard to reform. Robert Gates disagrees. Having led change successfully at three monumental organizations -- the CIA, Texas A & M University, and the Department of Defense -- he offers an insider's look at how major bureaus, organizations, and companies can be transformed. Gates includes advice on tailoring reform to the operative culture (we see how Gates worked within the system to increase diversity at Texas A & M); effecting change within committees; engaging the power of compromise ("In the real world of bureaucratic institutions, you almost never get all you want when you want it"); and listening and responding to your team.