By Secretary of State Phil McGrane
Highlights from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office
July 24, 2026
Happy, Honest
New recruits and seasoned veterans on my leadership team are often surprised to learn the job comes with homework…and a book club.
The level of enthusiasm varies, but no one gets a pass.
Since my days as Chief Deputy Clerk in Ada County, every leader on my team has been asked to read Thanks for the Feedback, written by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. At first glance, it seems like an odd choice. It’s not a book about management or strategy. It’s about something much harder: learning how to receive feedback well.
Most of us are pretty good at giving advice. Receiving it is another story.
Better Together
None of us enjoys hearing we could have handled something better. Our instinct is to explain ourselves or defend our decisions. But if we’re unwilling to listen, we’re unlikely to grow.
That’s part of why reading matters so much to me and why we read this book as a group. General James Mattis, who I had the chance to meet years ago, once put it simply: the trouble with being too busy to read is that you learn everything the hard way. He said, “By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work, where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men.”
Every election, every project, and every conversation with Idahoans teaches us something. Improvement doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people are willing to listen, learn, and speak up with ideas that make us better.
Good leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating an environment where people feel comfortable sharing them.
Happy, Honest
That’s why we’ve worked to build a culture where feedback isn’t something to avoid. It’s something to value.
In our office, we call it our “Happy, Honest” approach. It’s the standard we hold ourselves to every day: Be Helpful. Be Open. Practice Patience. Keep It Simple. Build Trust.
Those values aren’t just how we serve Idahoans. They’re how we work together. We celebrate successes, learn from mistakes, survive long election nights with the occasional shot of hot sauce, and keep asking how we can do better.
An office is only as good as its people. If we’re willing to listen, learn, and grow together, we’ll be better equipped to serve the people of Idaho.
Government works best when the people inside it never stop learning.
That’s the kind of culture we’re working to build, a culture that’s always listening, always improving, and always focused on serving Idahoans better than we did yesterday.
Leadership isn’t about having all the answers.
It’s about creating an environment where people are encouraged to find better ones.
Phil McGrane
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About Phil McGrane
Phil McGrane was elected Idaho’s twenty-eighth Secretary of State and took office on January 2, 2023. McGrane served as elected Clerk of Ada County from 2019-2022. McGrane holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a juris doctorate, and a Master of Public Administration. As a fourth-generation Idahoan, Phil has dedicated his career to making elections in the state of Idaho accessible, secure and transparent.
