As part of the grueling ELGL initiation process, new members are asked to complete our version of the Wonderlic test. It’s an open book test and participants do not have to use a dull number 2 pencil to fill in tiny circles.
Kathryn Shackelford (LinkedIn and Twitter) is the Project Manager for the City of Peoria (IL) Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team. She graduated from Virginia Tech with Masters, Urban and Regional Planning.
Complete the following sentences.
I feel….
…most alive when I am working to make the world a better place.
I joined ELGL because…
….I added ELGL to by RSS reader after my coworker Kate Green introduced me to it. I figured I should join after I tweeted my 3rd article.
The last book that I read was…
…MISbehaving by Richard Thaler.
If I had to buy a Fathead, I would buy…
….a Virginia Tech helmet, but to be clear you would have to be holding a gun to my head to make me buy a Fathead. This would have to be a life or death situation.
You should probably know that…
….I have worked both as a laborer in a coal mine and an intern for NASA.
Do you agree/disagree with the following statement(s)……Explain….
Local government is innovative.
Disagree. Local government is bogged down by long standing bureaucracy and limited staffing. It is very rare to find that a city employee who has enough time or energy to invoke meaningful change. That being said, I work on an innovation team whose main focus is to launch government innovation. Let’s hope we can innovate local government.
You should stay at least two years in a job.
Debatable. If a life changing offer arises or you have found yourself in a hostile work environment, there is no need to miss amazing opportunities or punish yourself.
Parks and Rec is the best TV show ever.
Basically. Just call my Leslie.
The best employees, not just the longest tenured, are rewarded in local government.
AGREE. Rewards should go to those doing the best work, not working the longest time. By rewarding employees for tenure, local governments are standing in the way of their own success. Why try to do my job better if I am better rewarded for doing incompetent work for many years, than doing great transformative work for one.
Publicly funded stadiums and arenas are a good idea.
DISAGREE. Big risk = Big fail. I base most of my decisions on Nassim Taleb’s book Anti Fragile.
Cities need more bike lanes.
AGREE. We must design cities of the 8 and 80. We must ensure equal access to transportation opportunities regardless of income and ability.