By Mark Mallon, on July 19, 2012

As my time in Rocky Mount nears an end, I thought I would share some of the lessons I’ve learned this summer:

1. An internship is what you make of it. Let’s face it: people are busy, and they don’t have all day to hold some intern’s hand. If you find yourself in an internship, it’s important to be assertive about what kind of work you’d like to do and try to seek it out. You will learn more, and employers will appreciate your initiative.
2. Simple experiences are important! As an intern, I was allowed access to many aspects of the City’s operations. Simply being able to sit in on meetings and talk with different people have been great educational opportunities.
3. Government is complicated. As the campaign season heats up, you will probably hear a lot of folks saying how government should be “run like a business.” To be sure, there are management techniques that work across all sectors. But the fact is, government is fundamentally different from business. Businesses specialize in a few products or services, but government is extremely varied, and it’s difficult to measure success (there’s no profit margin like in the private sector).
4. It takes a village. There’s only so much a local government can do. It can try to encourage economic development, but at the end of the day, it’s the private sector that actually has to invest. It takes partnership between the public sector, private sector, and citizens to build a thriving community. The best thing government can do is coordinate among the various stakeholders.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog this summer – I’ve enjoyed writing it. Happy governing!