The following short video of David Gragan, a well-known public sector procurement professional, was one of seven we filmed at the National Academy of Public Administration’s annual conference in Washington D.C. between November 2 and November 4. 

In this video, Gragan provides commentary about his views of public service as a “noble profession.”

As he says, “the people that are attracted to do this sort of work on the behalf of others are people that are humble by nature, willing to do anything for the benefit of other personnel and they ensure that every single day, we put in place good government structures for the benefit of the public.”

How to keep the stream of talented young people entering public service?  Gragan suggests that “we, who are privileged to be public service leaders need to be talking in high school classes with guidance counselors, (and) in colleges as guest lecturers where possible. Most of us that do this work absolutely love what we do, but many of us came here accidentally. . .  my goal as a public leader today is to make this an aspirational profession not an accidental one.”

This is the sixth of seven videos in this series.  The first was with Robert Shea, CEO of GovNavigators and former associate director at the US Office of Management and Budget; the second was with Sue Schwartz, president of the American Planning Association; the third was with Matt Hart, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments in Hartford, Connecticut, and the fourth (posted just before the holidays) was with Graham Knaus, CEO of the California Association of Counties. The most recent one was with Marlon Brown, director of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

All these videos can be found at the bottom of this page.