‘Unless you fight for it, it’s not worth it once you get there’ – Phindile Baleni
Release Date: 03/30/2023
BONUS EPISODE: How the US federal government is getting ready for President Trump
Leading Questions
The US presidential election is the most consequential taking place in the ‘year of democracy’. This special episode of Global Government Forum’s Leading Questions podcast, taken from a webinar held on 19 November, looks at what public servants will be doing to prepare for the incoming presidential team led by President Donald Trump. In this podcast, webinar chair Siobhan Benita discusses the work that civil servants will be undertaking for the government transition with , non-attorney partner and director of government and public affairs, Shaw Bransford & Roth, and Richard...
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Leading Questions
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Leading Questions Live: How to make government work in the age of permacrisis
Leading Questions
In this episode of Leading Question, recorded with a live online audience, a panel of Global Government Forum experts delve into the findings of its research into the key characteristics needed for a modern public service. The Making Government Work report identifies five key pillars of a modern civil service, which are: · Strong leadership with mutual respect and alignment between ministers and senior officials · Building a highly skilled, inclusive and thriving public sector workforce. ...
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US presidential election: what the party platforms say – and what you need to know
Leading Questions
In this special edition of Global Government Forum’s Leading Questions podcast, which is based on a GGF webinar held in September, we look at the key issues in the upcoming United States presidential election. Join Siobhan Benita as she discuss the key issues of the campaign with Dr Thomas Gift, the associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on US Politics (CUSP) at UCL, and Kevin R. Kosar, a resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Listen to this podcast to find out: The key issues shaping the campaign. The policy priorities being set out by the...
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How to empower civil servants to deliver government missions, with Dr Dan Honig
Leading Questions
In a new episode of Leading Questions, Richard Johnstone, the executive editor of Global Government Forum, interviews Dr Dan Honig, professor of public policy at University College London and Georgetown University, about his new book, Mission Driven Bureaucrats. Subtitled Empowering People To Help Government Do Better, Honig’s book explores how civil servants can be empowered to drive better government performance. Honig argues that many public sector organisations are too focused on compliance – what he describes as an attempt to keep those who might want to do ill from doing it. Such an...
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UK general election: how to get ready for the next government - BONUS EPISODE
Leading Questions
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Flipping the script in government with former Bank of England chief economist – Andy Haldane
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In this, the last episode of Leading Questions series 3, talks about thriving on leading through crisis and the challenges and opportunities “when the old is broken and the new is yet to be forged”. Having spent 32 years at the Bank of England, latterly as chief economist, headed up the UK government’s Levelling Up taskforce, founded the charity Pro Bono Economics, and spent the last two years as chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, Andy has a range of roles and experiences to draw on. Yet though he has been very honest publicly about his organisations’ successes and failures...
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From COVID-19 to Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Estonia’s top public servant Taimar Peterkop's tips for dealing with crises
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Estonia’s most senior civil servant, secretary of state Taimar Peterkop, shares his insights into leading through crises. From dealing with a vulnerability in the country’s digital ID system – which involved updating thousands of digital services – to the country’s response to the COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this is an episode packed with lessons on what to do when government is faced with emergency. Taimar’s main learning from the digital ID crisis was the importance of building relationships with the private sector, academia and...
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What government leaders’ greatest challenge will be in the coming years – interview with Israel Pastor Sainz-Pardo
Leading Questions
Podcast host Siobhan Benita speaks know-how and knock-backs with the deputy director of learning at Spain’s National Institute of Public Administration. Israel Pastor has more than 20 years’ experience as a senior manager in the Spanish state administration – including stints in the health, environment, finance and justice departments – affording him a broad perspective on leadership and what it takes to make the organisation you’re in charge of better. Having studied hard to get through a rigorous selection process whereby people with no...
info_outlinePhindile Baleni was appointed secretary to South Africa’s cabinet and director general of the presidency – the first woman in the country’s history to hold these roles – amid the pandemic in April 2021. It’s a good thing she likes a challenge.
With a background in maths and law, she joined the public service in 1994 just as South Africa was transitioning from the old apartheid regime to a new democratic order. Working in provincial government before moving to national, Phindile’s career has been akin to “navigating an obstacle course”, not least on account of her race and gender.
From a magistrate describing her as a “little girl” and refusing to address her in the courtroom to coming up against lawyers in the public service who excluded her by speaking Afrikaans, Phindile has faced discrimination with strength and grace – sometimes working to educate bigots and when necessary “fighting fire with fire”.
She says she has always had people “who have known what I’m capable of who troubleshooted on my behalf” but it is principally her self-confidence – built by her parents from a young age – that has helped to pull her through. She is, she says, “motivated by struggle”.
Using her experiences and leadership prowess to support others – Phindile subscribes to the idea popular in Africa that “a star shines because the other star gives you the light for you to shine” – she has worked to help talented colleagues get over crises of confidence, pushing them out of their comfort zones so that they can achieve their best.
In this first episode of the new series of Leading Questions, Phindile also describes the “harrowing” experience of transforming a public service built on apartheid – to serve four million of a population of 54 million – into a democratic system capable of serving all South Africans.
From an “eclectic” leader who comes across as humble and unassuming, this is a lesson in quiet unshakable strength, resilience and never giving up.