If there is one thing Lauren Jones remembers while learning under former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis as a Northeastern University student it’s the importance of making lists.
Jones was a student in Dukakis’ “Institutional Leadership and the Public Manager” class, and was learning the ins and outs of good public policy while pursuing her master’s degree in public administration. And where does good public policy begin? It starts by writing down a list of all the stakeholders who have an interest in the issue at hand, including public officials, advocates, local residents and the media.
“He [Dukakis] really pushed me to make sure I was diving deeper into the issues, not just thinking about public policy on the surface level,” she says. Jones knows well that the best politicians don’t operate in a vacuum and community engagement is essential in any good public policy process. As the secretary of labor and workforce development for Massachusetts, she practices that creed every day.
