Charting a Course for Boston: Organizing for Change

By: Lisa C. Cox, Mitchell B. Weiss and Jorrit De Jong

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:10

Abstract

Michelle Wu had been elected on the promise of systemic change, but four days after her November 2021 election and just eleven days before taking office as mayor of Boston, she was still considering how best to staff and manage a range of over-arching priorities. Should she hire high-profile advisors in the mayor’s office, assign the work to department chiefs, or pursue another arrangement? On the Friday after her election, Mayor-Elect Wu gathered a team in a conference room outside her soon-to- be vacated city council office to strategize. A half dozen people surrounded her: her campaign manager, her transition director, and a few aides who would end up with roles in her administration. A variety of diagrams with boxes and arrows were splayed across the table. The goal was to shape the administration in ways that would help “institute big promises of reform,” Wu recalled, “while bringing along the existing organization.”

Keywords

Leadership; Selection and Staffing; City; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Boston

Citation

Cox, Lisa C., Mitchell B. Weiss, and Jorrit De Jong. "Charting a Course for Boston: Organizing for Change." Cambridge, MA, United States: Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative Case, 2022.