Hillary Clinton Launches E-Suggestion Box..'The Secretary is Listening'

[Beacool]

February 10, 2009

ABC News' Kirit Radia reports:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has started a suggestion box on the State Department's internal intranet site called "The Sounding Board," which appears to be a message board where ideas can be raised and commented on. Ideas can also be emailed privately to the "Secretary's Suggestion Box."

Employees who open up the State Dept's intranet homepage are greeted with a graphic declaring "The Sounding Board, The Secretary is Listening." A similar space is in the works for USAID.

Oddly, the site, which appears to have been launched Monday, has not yet been announced internally and it seems very few employees here know it is up and running.

"The Sounding Board is a place where I hope we can all engage in sharing creative and collaborative ideas to make our agency smarter, more efficient, and more effective," Clinton wrote yesterday in an opening post, a screen shot of which was provided to ABC News.

"Ideas will be reviewed to determine their potential and will be presented to Department management for consideration and formal response. Secretary Clinton and other senior Department officials will consider both the initial proposal and the management response to determine if additional action is necessary," the site says.

"This is your space to start this conversation. Secretary Clinton is listening and wants to hear from you," it adds.

Secretary Clinton pledged to run a department that is open to new ideas during remarks to employees when she first entered the department's Foggy Bottom headquarters as Secretary of State, an idea that was met with whoops of approval.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2009/02/hillary-clint-1.html

What a difference from Condi's term.......

:-)

[Autumn]

1. How cool is that,

she is going to a fantastic Secretary of State.

[Beacool]

11. Yes, I think that she will be great at it.

:woohoo:

[Occam Bandage]

2. That's pretty cool. It seems she's starting off on a great note.

So far, this has been a brilliant appointment.

[Jennicut]

4. I agree Occam. I hope people who disliked Hillary before

will at least give her a chance. I didn't vote for her in my state primary but I respect her and I think she will be a great SoS.

[EraOfResponsibility]

3. that reminds me of Frasier

"I'm listening". :)

[Starry Messenger]

5. That is very cool, Beacool!

Thank you for the news. I can't imagine working for Condi...boss from hell I'd imagine. I'm glad Hillary is off to such a great start and a using collaborative working environment. I feel like we are really entering the new age.

[Beacool]

12. Well, I don't think that Condi was nasty, just aloof.

Hillary is a politician, she knows how to reach to people. Condi was standoffish and kept her distance.

She seems to be doing a "listening tour" of the State Dept., just as she did when she ran for the senate and the presidency.

:7

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

27. But has she's learned her lesson NOT 2 listen 2 those beating the war drums? . . .

I gotta think so, but we'll soon see.

[Beacool]

28. Her lesson? No need to.

Bush is no longer president, so I should hope that we don't attack anyone without a valid reason this time around.

;)

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

29. I hear u but * had some help selling his con job from those in Congress charged w/ declaring war...

And as you know, an infamous SoS assisted in perpetrating that hoax on some gullible members of Congress - including many Dems - who were a little too quick on the war trigger. I don't think Hillary will be mislead again, having learned her lesson to be careful who she listens to. That's all I'm saying.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

30. Sorry to disagree, but CONdi was beyond nasty. She's a truly disgusting individual. . .

Although I would have preferred Richardson in the position of SoS, Hillary is a considerable improvement, no doubt.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

6. She's looking great these days. Is that a new photo? She looks great.

:thumbsup:

[Beacool]

10. Yes, it's from her meeting with Indonesian president Gloria Arroyo

on February 6th



Here's one from today with the Czech Foreign Minister, Karel Schwarzenberg.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

14. Thanks for the photos!

[Beacool]

16. My pleasure.

BTW, that's a great pic of Marylin.

;-)

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

18. Thanks. i've been a fan of her since I was a little girl. The quote she gave

during her last interview is also in my signature. She begged them to put that in the interview but they wouldn't. so sad.

[Beacool]

19. Marylin was brighter than most people gave her credit.

I used to hear anecdotes about Marylin frequently when I was acting. I attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in NY some years ago after college. Marylin had befriended Lee and Paula Strasberg and she took a sabbatical from Hollywood to study with Lee at the Actor's Studio in NY. Marylin, due to her childhood, always looked for people to become their surrogate family. The Strasbergs took her into their circle and she also befriended their daughter Susan, who became a sort of younger sister. An interesting footnote is that Marylin left her possessions in her will to the Strasbergs.

;)

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

25. omg! did you know the stasberg family????

[Beacool]

26. Yes, I do.

I trained there for almost 5 years. Paula Strasberg died many years ago and Lee married a much younger woman named Ana, with whom he had two sons. Ana is the one who runs the Institute since Lee's death (they have two branches, NY and LA).

:D

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

32. That is so cool! They're some of the best. Are you currently acting?

[Beacool]

33. Not at the moment.

I still do some theater when I have the time because I'm a long term member of a theater company in NY. Theater is what I always loved to do. TV and film are more a director's medium, you can be sitting all day waiting for the light to be just so or for some other technical aspect. Doing theater is like performing a trapeze act without the net, it's exhilarating and you get an immediate response from the audience. The people are also very cool, there are so many talented performers out there.

:D

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

31. delete

[Beacool]

20. Oops, I must have been tired.

Ms. Arroyo is the president of the Philippines, not Indonesia.

My bad.........

:blush:

[Colobo]

7. This IS change America can believe in.

[rvablue]

8. Nice move, Madame Secretary....she

promised this on her first day speech. Open to any and all ideas.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

9. An E-suggestion box is a start I suppose-who knows best how to run the St Dept than career employees...

[Beacool]

15. That's why she probably did it.

Hillary always welcomes ideas. If at a meeting someone is quiet she makes a point of making that person sate their opinion. She listens to all and then makes her decision. She's very analytical and disciplined, she and Gore would sometimes discuss policy for hours while Tipper and Bill would joke around and gossip. I think that Obama is analytical too, they have that in common.

:-)

[PBS Poll-435]

13. That is MY SoS!

:loveya:

[PretzelWarrior]

17. Secretary Frasier Crane. "I'm listening." heheh.

just kidding. I think this is a terrific idea on many levels. substantively and image wise this is good to see.

[plcdude]

21. url?

where is it located so I can make a suggestion or two?

[Blue_Tires]

22. can i plz get an advance copy of the FSO exam??

:crazy: :silly:

[Beacool]

23. They didn't post it.

I think that it's an internal link for State employees only, not sure.

:D

On edit, meant to respond to #21.

[HOLOS]

24. Love You Hillary, Thank You