TheBridge profile: Michael Peckham
Name: Michael Peckham
Current city: Bethesda, MD
Current job: Acting Chief Financial Officer & Director Financial Management Portfolio, Program Support Center at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Past job: ReInvent Grants Management Lead at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Starbucks 7700 Norfolk Ave Bethesda
Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. Transformation driven by users through intuitive design will drive adoption through organic change management and minimize the need for system training if the individuals already understand functional job components.
Q. Job advice in three words? Learn from failure!
Q. How are you (or your organization) currently bridging the gap between innovation and regulation? Embracing agile development through Human Centered Design. For twenty-five years we have adapted processes to systems - today's technology allows systems to support user needs.
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? Policy is simply the umbrella under which operations must behave. There is always flexibility to achieve intended results if we partner and understand the goal we are trying to achieve.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? Perfection is the enemy of progress. Understanding that risk is part of innovating and change is constant, so what works today is not necessarily tomorrow's solution.
Q. Favorite book you recommend? Cryptography Apocalypse: Preparing for the Day When Quantum Computing Breaks Today's Crypto - its what I'm reading right now since I'm introducing Blockchain in federal space, I want to be thinking about how the next big emerging technology will disrupt today's technology.
Q. Everyday is probably different, but can you describe a "day in the life" of your job? There will be a multitude of things to which I "react" every day - finding at least 15 minutes to do something proactive is what inspires me!
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself in the beginning of your career? I wish that I had learned earlier in my career to understand more about what created inputs to my job and what was done with the outputs. Getting the big picture helps put value on what you do - and spurs creativity.
Q. What's one piece of advice you are still trying to master? Everyone needs to find their own way to meditate - mine is exercise. I used to swim at lunch every day and it was a great way to refocus and unload a lot of stress making my afternoons extremely productive! (now I swim in the morning and while I still love it, I would love to find time at lunch again.)
Q. Best advice you’ve received? The best advice I ever received was - you get out of it what you put into it. It applies at work, in relationships, sports, you name it. If your not present and giving your all you'll never recognize your full potential.
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