Bob Stone

Bob Stone (born April 17, 1935) is an American government executive and author. He is the author or co-author of three books. He served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for installations from 1981-1993, where he revolutionized operation of military bases by substituting local authority and enthusiasm for bureaucracy and regulation. He was drafted by Vice President Al Gore in 1993 to be project manager of the Clinton/Gore effort to reinvent the federal government.

Career Stone attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he flunked out before returning to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering. From 1958 to 1969 he worked as an engineer for Cities Service, Atomics International, and Garrett AiResearch.

He joined the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1969 as a systems analyst, where he developed a plan to radically increase the army’s anti-tank capability by spreading anti-tank missiles throughout the combat forces.

He was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for installations in 1981, and set out to strengthen management of military bases through better regulation and centralizing management. But when the Air Force force-fed him the experience of the Tactical Air Command (now the Air Combat Command) under its commander, General W. L. Creech, Stone reversed his approach to managing, radically eliminating regulations and devolving authority from the Pentagon to the front line.<1><2> , His work guided the spread of quality management in Defense, and the Model Installations Program he created encouraged and supported innovative ways of operating. <3>

Stone’s Pentagon experience was extensively described in Reinventing Government <4> , which brought his work to the attention of Vice President Al Gore, who appointed him project director of the National Performance Review, the new administration’s serious effort to reinvent the federal government. Stone served there until his retirement from federal service in 1999.

After retiring from the federal government Stone joined the Public Strategies Group, a consulting firm that helped public organizations improve their performance. He taught business ethics as an adjunct professor at the University of Redlands for eight years. And he served four years as a dollar-a-year advisor/ethics teacher to the city of Los Angeles.

Books Confessions of a Civil Servant: Lessons in Changing America’s Government and Military (Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 2002, ISBN 0-7425-2765-4)

The Ethics Challenge: Strengthening Your Integrity in a Greedy World (with Mick Ukleja, Morgan-James, Garden City, New York, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60037-609-2)

Ostentatious Time-Wasting: Tales from the White House, Pentagon, and City Hall (Robert Stone, Los Angeles, California, 2021, ISBN 978-0-578-94921-5)

References

1 The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, Times Books, New York, New York, 1996, ISBN 0-8129-2833-4)
2 Reimagine: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age, Tom Peters, DK Publishing, New York, New York, 2003, ISBN: 978-0789496478
3 “The ‘Navy Way’ Can Change,” Robert E. Mumford, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1991
4 Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector, David Osborne & Ted Gaebler, (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1992, ISBN0-201-52394-9))

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