THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2010
KLMNO
R THE FEDERAL WORKER
On Leadership:The Federal Coach 6
Excerpts from
views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/fedcoach The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington
Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership. The goal is to “engage, inspire and learn from you, the federal worker, whether you are a new hire, a contractor or a manager at the highest level.” Share your ideas and questions at fedcoach@
ourpublicservice.org.
LINDA DAVIDSON/THE WASHINGTON POST
After delivering remarks at the conference, Linda Washington of the Department of Transportation listens to other speakers such as Fred Wade of the Treasury Department and the IRS.
Federal campaign sets $67 million goal T
he federal government’s Combined Federal Cam- paign officially kicked off Wednesday with a lead- ership conference at the Marriott Renaissance
Hotel for more than 600 federal employees. Leaders of the annual charity drive for feds announced
a 2010 goal of $67 million, which would exceed last year’s $66.5 million fundraising total. The campaign runs until Dec. 15 and supports more than 4,000 local, national and international charities.
Sales of ‘Medal of Honor’ game banned on bases
Electronic Arts title lets players fight as U.S. troops or Taliban
By Anne Flaherty Military bases across the Unit-
ed States have banned the sale of a new video game that lets a play- er pretend to be a Taliban fighter and “shoot” U.S. troops in Afghan- istan.
Gamers are scoffing at the deci- sion, saying that advanced tech- nology has made it commonplace in the gaming world to let players switch sides and play the bad guy. “Medal of Honor” by Electronic
Arts, a major game developer based in California, hits stores Oct. 12. After public protests, including by British Defense Secretary Liam Fox, U.S. military officials decided not to stock the game in any of the nearly 300 base exchange shops. Fox said last month that he was
“disgusted and angry” by what was a “tasteless product.” Fox called on retailers to show their
support for the troops by not sell- ing it. “At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers, and wives have lost husbands,” Fox said. “It’s shocking that someone would think it acceptable to re- create the acts of the Taliban against British soldiers.” The game also will not be sold
at any of the 49 GameStop stores on various U.S. military bases. Troops will be allowed to own copies, but they have to buy them off-base. “We regret any inconvenience this may cause authorized shop- pers but are optimistic that they will understand the sensitivity to the life-and-death scenarios this product presents as entertain- ment,” said Maj. Gen. Bruce Casel- la, who commands the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, which oversees more than 180 base ex- change shops.
Casella made the decision last week, with the Navy quickly fol- lowing suit. Kathleen Martin, a spokeswoman for the Navy Ex- change Service Command, said the game won’t be sold at any of the Navy’s 104 exchange shops.
Online federal benefits calculator
Federal retirement benefits calculator
www.opm.gov/retire/ tools/calculators/ballpark/menu. asp This calculator projects retirement benefits under federal retirement systems. It also has links for calcu- lating how much of an annuity will be tax-free and how much tax to have withheld.
Social Security: www.ssa. gov/planners/
calculators.htm This site features a Social Security benefit estimator for those who will be eligible under that system, which includes most current feder- al employees. It also has links to other calculators.
Thrift Savings Plan: www.tsp. gov/calc This site has calculators allowing
washingtonpost.com Q.
So your agen- cy didn’t do so well in the “Best Places
to Work” rankings, an- nounced last week. What’s the problem? If you were in charge, what would you do to improve things? E-mail your answer to
federalworker@washpost.com and include your full name, home town and the agency for which you work. We might include your response in Fri- day’s Washington Post. When answers are particular- ly sensitive, we will consider a respondent’s request to with- hold full identification.
participants in the 401(k)-style re- tirement savings program to proj- ect future account balances; based on differing investment lev- els and rates of return; to deter- mine loan payments if they borrow against their accounts; and to see how an account balance would translate into income after separa- tion, among various other func- tions.
Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance:
www.opm.gov/calculator/ worksheet.asp This site calculates premium and benefit amounts under various op- tions, as well as potential changes after retirement.
Other benefits: www.opm. gov/insure
This site has links to calculate pre- miums under the options available in the Federal Long Term Care In- surance Program (click on “Long Term Care,” then “Program Infor- mation,” then “Cost Information”) and to determine the potential tax savings of flexible spending ac- counts. It also has links to com- pare premiums and other features of plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and the Federal Dental and Vision Insur- ance Program.
Note: Eligible employees can enroll or make changes in the TSP or FLTCIP programs anytime, but other programs have restrictions on enrollment and changing coverage.
— Eric Yoder
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“Medal of Honor” game have been set in World War II, allowing play- ers to act as members of the Allied force or the Nazi regime. The latest version is set in mod- ern Afghanistan, where 140,000 U.S. and NATO troops are fighting the Taliban. The story is told through a small group of charac- ters known as “Tier 1” operators, elite fighters who take orders di- rectly from the president and de- fense secretary.
EA opened with this phrase in its description of its game: “Oper- ating directly under the National Command Authority, a relatively unknown entity of hand-picked warriors are called on when the mission must not fail.” The site doesn’t advertise that the mul- tiplayer version allows a player to role-play as a member of the Tali- ban.
One online promotion features video interviews with Special Op- erations personnel who the com- pany says served as consultants to improve the authenticity of the game. The faces of the men inter- viewed were blurred and their names not given.
“By me being a part of it, I at least have some say on how the community is represented,” one man says. Electronic Arts did not respond to a request for comment. Spokes- woman Amanda Taggart was quoted last month by the Sunday Times as saying that video gamers routinely play both good guys and bad guys. “Most of us have been doing this since we were 7: Someone plays cop, someone must be rob- ber,” the newspaper quoted her as saying.
—Associated Press
Ambassador Janice L. Jacobs is the Department of State’s assistant secretary for consular affairs. The Bureau of Consular Affairs protects the interests of American citizens overseas, issues passports and processes visas. Jacobs previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. What do you believe are the most critical elements to success? Personal success, especially in jobs when you’re dealing with people, requires a lot of self-awareness, discipline, strong interpersonal skills, a good degree of resiliency, integrity and then always a positive outlook. It’s a real skill, because you have to be empathetic, but at the same time put your own emotions aside. Check your ego and really listen to people, and then use [your] training and talent to make good decisions. Some of these are innate talents, but others you learn on the job and with training. I think it is also
important to bring passion to your job. You need to be doing something that you really like, because that’s what keeps people motivated. And if you’re motivated, then that contributes to your success [and] to the success of the organization. How are you fostering these elements of success? Most new Foreign Service
FEDERAL DIARY Joe Davidson
Joe Davidson is away. His column will return.
officers will be doing consular tours their first or second assignment. We feel that we have a responsibility for modeling good leadership, so we set up a leadership committee to ask people, “What does good leadership look like? What does it feel like?” We came up with 10 leadership tenets, which are principles that apply to any good leader, and we really play those up. We spend a lot of time talking about those tenets and what they mean in day-to-day work. We don’t pay lip service to this — it is something that we believe in. And it’s exciting because some of the other bureaus are starting their own leadership initiatives based on what we’ve done. How do you encourage others to remain optimistic? The important thing for remaining positive is to think about long-range goals. As long as people can think about the future and not let every setback pull them down, that’s important. It’s something, frankly, I’ve had to practice. I tend to be realistic about
situations, and sometimes it’s easy if you’re that way to let things get you down. In the end, with consular work, we’re touching lives, helping people and making a difference. When I think of all the times I have been able to help people, sometimes out of terrible circumstances, it’s very rewarding and helps me keep moving forward. What are the biggest
day-to-day challenges that you face as a federal leader, and how are you overcoming them? The key challenge is the wise
Janice L. Jacobs
management of resources to meet our current and future demands. In consular affairs, we’re mostly fee-funded, and so incoming revenue depends on the demand for services. When things are good and people are traveling, getting passports and asking for visas, our incoming revenue is pretty good. But when demand is down the way it has been the last couple of years, then we have to start paying more attention to what we’re
spending our money on and set priorities. For us, the biggest challenge is we’re like a public utility, because people expect us to continue providing a high level of service at a reasonable cost. How do you manage your
time? I always try to remember what
I call the “human factor” when scheduling my time by building in breathing space in my daily schedule. For a long time, I would sit at my computer and try to answer every e-mail immediately until it was overtaking my life. Now I go through and select the ones that I know need an answer right now, and if I need some time to think through an answer or get more input, I wait on those. I don’t delay decisions, but Iwant to make sure that I’m including [everyone] who needs to be included in a decision. I also leave time for my hobbies. I’m a runner, and even though it’s really hard because I travel a lot, I have managed to keep up my running schedule and participate in marathons. Sometimes you have to fight to find the time, but people need to keep up outside interests so their work doesn’t become their life.
Visit On Leadership at views.
washingtonpost.com/leadership/ fedcoach. Mondays: “Getting Ahead” — advice on leading up. Wednesdays: “View From the Top Floor.”
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