Getting Results: A Guide for Federal Leaders and Managers edited by Barry White and Kathryn Newcomer. This book is an anthology of practical advice on managing for results, with articles by people with leadership experience across a wide swath of government. White is director of performance projects at the Council for Excellence in Government; Newcomer is director of the School of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. The book, 350 pages at $25, can be ordered through the council’s Web site, at www.excelgov.org.

The 2004 Prune Book: Top Management Challenges for Presidential Appointees

The 2004 Prune Book: Top Management Challenges for Presidential Appointees. It may have last year in the title, but the latest edition of the Council for Excellence in Government’s Prune Book is current: It was released in mid-December and focuses squarely on what’s ahead. Author John H. Trattner—with an assist from council president and CEO Patricia McGinnis—spells out the government’s shift toward results-based management, offers tips for new appointees and breaks down the various aspects of running a government organization. Published by Brookings Institution Press, 117 pages, $22.95, available through the council Web site or at www.brookings.edu/press/books/ 2004prunebook.htm.

Getting to Know You: Rules of Engagement for Political Appointees and Career Executives. Authors Joseph A. Ferrara of Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute and Lynn C. Ross, a doctoral candidate at Georgetown, start by expunging the myths career civil servants and political appointees might hold about each other. Then they lay out rules of engagement for working together. From the IBM Center for the Business of Government, downloadable from its Web site, at www.businessofgovernment.org.