Episode #41: Mike Leach
Welcome to our latest edition of WonkCast: People Power Policy.
Public sector accountability can easily drift into process theater, rewarding caution over outcomes.
Today’s guest ascribes this trend in child welfare to an institutional risk aversion that is as rational in the near-term as it is corrosive in the long-term.
Mike Leach ran the South Carolina Department of Social Services underGovernor Henry McMaster, and held senior roles in Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services. Today, he’s the Chief External Engagement Officer at Think of Us.
We talked about the key role agency leaders play in shaping the decision making environment within their institution, and why seemingly rational decisions to reduce risk can create far worse outcomes in aggregate.
We also talked about litigation and consent decrees, and how he sees them as both a symptom of these challenges and an amplifier of them.
This conversation illuminates some of the top impediments to visionary leadership for agency leaders, and some of the strategies that have surmounted them.
At a moment when Congress is looking to update the older-youth focused Chafee program, it’s especially instructive for anyone looking for new approaches.
