Fed Gov Today, Podcast, Francis Rose, Host, August 21, 2025
Ron Sanders, former Associate Director at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and long-time federal human capital leader, is clear about what today’s Senior Executive Service (SES) needs most: peers, mentors, and training that reflects the unique realities of serving the American people.
Sanders explains that federal executives are “dying out there” because they have no one to turn to. Many SES leaders, whether they’ve been in the role for three years or ten, lack peers inside their agencies and struggle with the isolation that comes with senior leadership. He argues that OPM’s new executive development programs are beginning to address that gap—and, for once, they are focused on what’s “inherently governmental.”