Ray Dalio is the author of Principles: Life and Work and Co-Chief Investment Officer & Co-Chairman of Bridgewater Associates, L.P. His book Principles: Life and Work is an excellent guide that provides proven approaches for improvement.  Mr. Dalio posts articles on sections of the book at LinkedIn.

TED  How to build a company (ORGANIZATION) where the best ideas win | Ray Dalio  Note: This applies to organizations to include county government.

Principles For Success by Ray Dalio:  Video – An ultra mini-series adventure in 30 minutes and eight episodes.

Examples: Principles explained at LinkedIn.

Work Principle 1. Trust in Radical Truth and Radical Transparency Understanding what is true is essential for success, and being radically transparent about everything, including mistakes and weaknesses, helps create the understanding that leads to improvements. That’s not just a theory; we have put this into practice at Bridgewater for over forty years, so we know how it works. But like most things in life, being radically truthful and transparent has cons as well as pros, which I will describe as accurately as possible in this chapter.