How often do you feel stifled by all the red tape? Do you ever think you could get more done if your organization wasn’t so bureaucratic? Nick Sinai tells Kevin that bureaucracy is just organizations with rules and procedures. It does not have a positive or negative connotation. However, when we take the time to understand them, we can continue to improve them. Further, you don’t need to be an executive to get things done. When people take change on themselves, they build the momentum for change. Nick shares some bureaucratic hacks to get unstuck.

Key Points

Nick Sinai defines bureaucracy. 

He gives us some hacks, like watercooler rules, one pager, the power of the pilot, and understanding the real org chart.

Meet Nick

• Name: Nick Sinai 
• His Story: Nick Sinai is the co-author of Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role on Any Team with Marina Nitze. He is a venture capitalist, adjunct Harvard faculty, and a former senior White House official in the Obama Administration. As a Senior Advisor at Insight Partners, Nick serves on the board of Rebellion Defense, Hawkeye360, LeoLabs, and Shift5.
• Worth Mentioning: Nick writes and teaches about technology in government and serves as a commissioner on the Atlantic Council's Commission on Remaking the US Defense Innovation System. He is a regular contributor to the TV Show Government Matters and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal and the Economist. Recently, Nick co-founded the U.S. Digital Corps, a new two-year federal fellowship for early-career technologists, launched in the summer of 2021.

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Book Recommendations

Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role on Any Team by Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai 

Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It by Cass R. Sunstein

The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America―and How to Undo His Legacy by David Gelles

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