The August 2007 column written for the Greensboro News & Record by David Noer, Frank S. Holt, Jr. Professor of Business Leadership
and professor of business administration, contrasts the differences between business management and government management. Based on some recent research from Harvard, Noer expanded on five major differences: more “murky” measures of success; a more pluralistic constituency; reduced autonomy to execute decisions; frustrations related to bureaucracy; and more media scrutiny and loss of privacy. Noer used the title of Senator Trent Lott’s book, “Herding Cats: A life in Politics,” to illustrate the structural and cultural difference between public service and business.