Episode 5: Systems thinking and anticipatory governance in Finland

In this episode we will discuss more systems-driven government steering. This podcast is part of the Steering2020 project.

Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith and Marjo Alaviitala welcome The Honorable Jocelyne Bourgon and Mrs. Sirpa Kekkonen to discuss more systems driven government.

Jocelyne Bourgon is the President of Public Governance International (PGI) and project leader of the New Synthesis Initiative; an international collaborative research effort aimed at exploring the new frontiers of public administration. In this capacity she is the main author of The New Synthesis of Public Administration Fieldbook, which has also been used in training leading civil servants, in Finland and elsewhere. She has been coaching the Finnish Government in questions related to the future of governance. Jocelyne was the first woman to be appointed the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet of Canada. She has also served as President of a UN Committee of Experts in Public Administration and governance, as well as Canada´s Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Mrs. Sirpa Kekkonen is the counsellor at the Prime Minister’s Office Finland. She has an extensive experience on government steering and management, both as expert, consultant and civil servant. She worked as the head of the Finnish Government’s Strategy Secretariat during the government term 2015–2019. Sirpa was importantly also one of the brains behind the Steering2020 project.