Thank you for inspiring me and helping me learn!

Thank you to the fascinating, diverse, and wonderful people who inspired me, and who I learned from, during the past few weeks -- here are some of them:

1. My favorite researcher – Thank you to my son Greg Vansuch, -- he is the hardest working person I know, and always an inspiration. Greg celebrated a key milestone recently: the publication of his first peer-reviewed research paper as lead author!

2. Agile enthusiasts and design thinking advocates

Thank you to everyone who is working to help create a more human workplace, focused on self-organization in the interest of serving the customer, including Andrew Jones for his article about the link between #Agile and design thinking. 

Thank you to Steve Denning, for a great summary of the Laws of Agile.

Thank you to the crew at McKinsey and Company, for their research about the connection between the principles and practices of Agile, and how that can help us shape the “New Normal”.

Thank you to Phil Lewis, for his thoughts about kindness and empathy (which are key foundations blocks of #DesignThinking).

3. Everyone who is working on diversity, inclusion, and equity.

As author Tom Robbins once noted, “Our similarities bring us to a common ground; our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other”; and I am inspired by people who help us find our common ground, and then move us forward on inclusiveness and diversity.  

Thank you to Kara Veitch, Colorado’s Executive Director Personnel and Administration, for here tremendous contributions, and for her wonderful article about “Diversity, inclusion and equity in Colorado state government:”. 

Thank you to Ben Laker, for his interview with Liz Wessel from WayUp (and, thank you, Liz!), regarding how good internship programs help improve diversity, inclusion and equity in organizations: 

Thank you to the diverse and enthusiastic group of seventeen interns from eight different locations at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), who reported-out on #NationalInternDay last week (Thursday, July 30)! They may provided fantastic contributions to their fellow Colorado citizens and to everyone who benefits from the Colorado #transportation system – and, thank you also to of the people at CDOT who mentored these interns!

4. The people at CDOT and other government who are innovating and improving public service

Thank you to Matt Stearns, one of the fabulous #innovators at CDOT, who is the first innovator featured during the CDOT “Summer of Spreading Innovation Success”, as noted in this video.

Thank you to unsung, and often unnamed, people at CDOT and other government agencies who work together day-in and day-out to save money and improve service to customers, including these people who are working together at the East  Alamosa Water and Sanitation District and the Southwest Colorado Region ("Region 5") of CDOT.

Thank you to all of the outstanding people at CDOT who are working to improve CDOT’s products, services, and processes, one improvement at a time through "Lean Everyday Ideas" – collectively, those CDOT people have been recognized as one of the Finalists for the 2020 North American Inspiring Workplaces Awards!

Thank you to the magnificent people in other #government agencies who are also doing an awesome job to improve public service, such as Linsey Sousek and this team at the Nebraska DOT which improved the #highway crack-sealing process:

… and Andrew Jones and his colleagues at the Denver Sheriff’s Department who worked to improve inmate outcomes.

Thank you to all of you for inspiring me and helping me learn!