Leading Without Applause - Vasheel O. Seedoyal

Every public officer knows the moment: the file that could go two ways, the minister who wants an answer faster than the law allows, the junior officer whose draft you could quietly fix or turn into a lesson. Nobody trains you for these. You learn them by getting them wrong.

Leading Without Applause is a field guide to the judgment calls that define a career in public service. Written by a serving senior administrator, in direct address, it is for the officer holding the file today, whether you have authority, do not yet have it, or are beginning to realise that judgment is already being asked of you.

Inside: How to say "not yet" to a minister, and what it costs youWhen a lawful decision is still the wrong oneHow to correct an officer without diminishing themWhy panic travels downward, and how to stop itHow to make a room safe for the person who raises the inconvenient truthWhy the reform nobody announced is the one that lastsHow to lead across agencies you cannot command>The examples are composites drawn from experience across policy, regulation and implementation. No ministry is named. The problems will be familiar anyway.

Leading Without Applause is Book Two of The Public Servant Trilogy. It follows Balidan: The Weight of Duty, which examined the personal cost of service, and can be read on its own.