Smart cities depend on smart governing: a convo w/ Gov Martin O’Malley & Alexander Shermansong

How do we grow smart cities without growing inequality? How can public officials become more responsive to its citizens? What are the new job titles emerging in smart cities?

In this episode of IBM thinkLeaders podcast, we are joined by guests Governor Martin O’Malley (author of Smarter Government: How to Govern for Results in the Information Age, former Governor of Maryland & Mayor of Baltimore) & Alexander Shermansong (founder of Civic Consulting USA, faculty at NYU). We talk to Martin and Alexander about the emergence of a more customer-centric form of governing, the role of cities in tackling major issues like climate change, and why a “smart city” is more than just a city with smart garbage cans.

Connect with us @IBMthinkLeaders + the guests at:
@MartinOMalley
@alexshermansong

“In the Information Age, citizens demand that their leaders have the guts to show them why they're making a decision. That doesn't mean that once people understand why you're making the decision, they will all agree. People reserve their right to vote against, but they do expect the respect of showing why you're making a decision on what basis, what is the objective truth.” -Martin O’Malley, author of Smarter Government: How to Govern for Results in the Information Age, former Governor of Maryland & Mayor of Baltimore

“[G]overnment has pushed the ball pretty far in terms of smart cities and entrepreneurialism and we're seeing a lot of reaction from the private sector saying, ‘Wow, there's actually a lot we could be doing around transportation, around sanitation, around these other areas.’ And there's now a host of startups anxious to get into government and see how they might either provide the same services government has been providing or in some ways to improve upon them.”-Alexander Shermansong, founder of Civic Consulting USA, faculty at NYU

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MARTIN O'MALLEY
Just two years after his upset election as Mayor of Baltimore in 1999, Time Magazine named Martin O’Malley one of the top five big city mayors in America. His new data-driven system of performance management, “Citistat,” earned his City the Innovations in Government Award from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2002 and has been copied by mayors across the country and around the world. When he ran for his Party’s nomination for President in 2016 — after two highly successful terms as Governor of Maryland — Washingtonian Magazine called him “probably the best manager in elected office today.”

As Mayor, O’Malley set Baltimore on course for the largest ten year reduction of crime of any major city in America. As Governor, O’Malley’s leadership made Maryland’s public schools #1 in America for an unprecedented five years in a row. And with a new performance management regimen called, “Baystat”, O’Malley turned around a 300 year decline in the health of the Chesapeake Bay — the largest estuary in North America.

O’Malley was the first of a new generation of Smart City mayors that would follow. In fact, his performance management system, Citistat — and it’s Maryland progeny, Statestat — also inspired key amendments to the Government Performance and Results Act; foundational requirements intended to drive data-driven management practices across federal agencies today.

In his new book, “Smarter Government”, O’Malley lays out in his own words how to govern for better results in the Information Age. It is a formula that every elected leader has the ability to call into service. But it requires a radical commitment to openness and transparency. The courage to follow the data wherever it might lead. A relentless commitment to measuring the outputs of government on a real-time basis. It is all about producing better results — real-time — for real people. The book was published in the fall of 2019 by Esri Press.