Enter the Bureaucrat-Poet: A Book Launch That Celebrates 30 Years of Public Sector Leadership
It is time to discard the myth of the beige-gray bureaucrat! The democratic core missions of public administration - the strive to provide as much as possible for as many as possible, both here and now and in the long term - simply require bureaucrats of an entirely different caliber: empathetic public servants who have the courage, judgment and ability to work magic and navigate wisely among all rules, systems and conflicting interests.
In line with SSE’s educational philosophy FREE and the SSE Arts Initiative, we suggest that a grand route to developing the pragmatically-minded and responsible bureaucrats of the future is to be found in what we call bureaucrat-poetic practices.
Welcome to discuss this topic with us at the launch of the unique Swedish poetry collection Byråkratpoesi (Bureaucrat Poetry), which contains poems written over the past decade by senior executives in public agencies, regions and municipalities, in a Poetry slam assignment as part of the Offentliga sektorns managementprogram (Public Sector Management Program) at the Stockholm School of Economics' Executive Education.
In connection with the program’s 30th anniversary, we invite you to the newly renovated auditorium at the Stockholm School of Economics on Tuesday September 2nd, 5-7 PM, for poetry readings and panel discussions followed by informal mingle.
The bureaucrat poets’ poems serve as reflective artifacts: they show how higher executives in the public sector think about themselves, their mission, and society. This poetic material thus acts as a mirror of contemporary bureaucracy and its ideals, where the role of the manager is in constant tension between ideals and realities. Through a sociological lens, the poems can be read as affective documents, testimonies of complex organizational logics, and expressions of a deep quest for meaning.
In the poems, anguish and pride go side by side, and humor and self-irony become a much-needed release to ease the pressure and dare to speak the truth. Despite the challenging conditions, the texts resonate with a heartfelt desire. A desire to be sufficient, despite one’s own vulnerability, confusion, scarce resources, and uncertainty. A desire to help carrying society forward on one’s shoulders.