If We Can Put a Man on the Moon

William Eggers and John O’Leary talked about their book If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government (Harvard Business School Press; November 16, 2009). In the book they look at the different ways that big projects can fail. They also look at projects carried out successfully by the federal government in the past, such as the national highway system and the moon landing, and argue that the federal government today can achieve big goals as well. They showed slides as they talked. They also responded to questions from members of the audience.

Bill Eggers is the global director for the public sector industry at Deloitte Research and executive director of Deloitte’s Public Leadership Institute. John O’Leary, an expert in business process engineering, has worked for Scudder Kemper Investments, Lycos, and KPMG Peat Marwick. close