As people gain experience, they look back on their successes and overrate their judgment, says Malcolm Gladwell, distiller of social trends and author of The Tipping Point. Research shows that even when playing games of pure chance, people carry an illusion of control, thinking they can win because they’re “better.” A simple explanation: overconfidence.

Set aside any notions you might have that the federal bureaucracy is inherently dysfunctional. In fact, Uncle Sam’s best agencies have a thing or two to teach private-sector employers. Here are eight lessons employers can learn from the biennial agency-by-agency ranking of federal employers by the Partnership for Public Service and American University’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation.

Whirlpool wants to be the No. 1 innovator among big-ticket appliance makers. To achieve its goal, it has a formal process for screening ideas. What you can learn about innovation from Whirlpool:

Show you are responsive to consumers by venturing into social media with a plan. Example: When McDonald’s launched its first blog, customers bombarded the company with complaints about toy Hummers in its Happy Meals. Unprepared, the company was slow to respond. Lesson: Social media is a powerful relationship-building tool, but only if you’re ready to listen and act on customers’ comments ...

When the responsibility rests on your shoulders to communicate in a crisis, follow these five rules: 1. Speak the same language. 2. "Kill" all the lawyers. (Well, don’t kill them, but do cage them.) 3. Define the CEO's role. 4. Don't wait for a crisis. 5. Drill employees.

Now that word’s out about the importance of advertising in a downturn, here comes a reminder that while promotion is good for your existing business, you also need to renew the business itself. Redesigning your company, however, is hard. That’s what Robert Kiyosaki tried to do.

You may dread confronting employees face to face about performance issues. But employees are far more likely to accept your critique and commit to improvement if you present those problems in a fair, concrete and "problem-solving" manner. Use these six tips as a framework to guide your discussion:

If it’s important to be user-friendly, and if the highest form of user-friendliness is user-centric, then why aren’t you doing it? That’s the challenge posed by Dev Patnaik and Robert Becker, co-founders of Jump Associates. They do “need-finding,” which is part of their user-based business design. Three reasons to uncover your customers’ needs:

It’s no picnic when you have to fire people for poor performance. Wayne Downing, a retired four-star general who ran the U.S. Army Special Forces, says you’ve got to do it. His advice:

Seth Goldman, co-founder of Honest Tea, soon found that he had no sounding board. But when the Aspen Institute chose him for a leadership program, Goldman found the outlet he needed. Here’s what he did—and what you can re-create:

According to the Edelman 2008 Trust Barometer, released before last year’s market flameout, a mere 20% of Americans said they trust CEOs to do the right thing. Instead, “they see arrogance, blundering and unabashed greed,” observes Jason Jennings, author of a primer for new leaders. When you’re wondering how important trust is, ponder these gems:

Somehow, Walt Disney’s toy division, run by Chris Heatherly and Len Mazzocco, churns out scores of innovative new toys every six months. What’s their magic? Their continuous innovation hinges on a systematic brainstorming and prototyping process that works like this:

When Paul O’Neill took the helm at Alcoa in 1987, he declared on his first day that no one should ever be hurt on the job. The acceptable accident rate now would be zero. Because of the chief’s gut feeling, Alcoa became one of the safest companies in the world.

The year after a flood, everybody buys flood insurance. After a crisis, executives turn to scenario planning. Consider this: The year after the 9/11 attack, use of scenario planning rose to 70% of executives, up from 30% in 1999, according to consultants Bain & Co. The numbers will likely be high again this year because of the recession.

A person’s business success has far less to do with one great decision than it does with sound day-to-day habits. “Most people think that there is some silver bullet to being great,” says Pam Bilbrey, co-author with Brian Jones of the new book, Ordinary Greatness. “Greatness is really about doing the ordinary, everyday things consistently well.” Here are a dozen habits to practice in your business (and personal) life:

“Dirty Jobs” TV show host Mike Rowe never would have figured on launching a web site to promote vocational schools. But he’s done it precisely because he didn’t follow his passion. Instead, he stumbled into a good job and brought his passion along.

IBM managers “all the way up the chain” are on Facebook—and if you’re not, “You feel like you’re doing something wrong,” one employee said. But most businesses don’t have a social media culture like IBM’s. Instead, more than half of all U.S. companies prohibit the use of such sites at the office. Such policies may create more problems than they solve.

Insight is so central to invention that legend has Archimedes, who suddenly realized how to calculate density and volume, jumping from his bath and running naked through the streets yelling “Eureka!” In our day, “aha” moments may not be so dramatic but still produced Velcro, the World Wide Web and organ transplants. What creates these brilliant flashes of insight?

Leadership advisor Marshall Goldsmith was having dinner with a top officer in the U.S. Army. Also at the table were seven new generals. The senior officer laughed as he looked at their bright new stars and contemplated his own retirement—a transition Goldsmith was helping him make. What advice did he give them?

Matt Smith’s secret weapon is talent. The Washington, D.C.-area advertising superstar says he buys experience slowly by focusing and investing only in top senior people. A few unorthodox ways he runs his business:

Dov Frohman says leadership can’t be taught—but it can be learned. He should know. The founder and former CEO of Intel Israel never takes the easy path. Through an almost desperate force of will mirroring that of his mentor, Intel CEO Andy Grove, Frohman built up a small desert outpost into a massive semiconductor plant, Israel’s largest private employer.

Talk about timing. Ellen Kullman, long on the short list of possible chiefs at DuPont, became president on Oct. 1, 2008, and CEO on Jan. 1. As the economy tanked and the chemical company’s sales fell, Kullman almost immediately had to decide what should and shouldn’t change. Organizing the company to respond to these trends, Kullman decided on four principles:

Time magazine asked prominent leaders to describe their own favorite leaders. Here are three of their picks: Tiger Woods, Nouriel Roubini and Jeff Bezos.

The pace of change seems to grow more urgent every year. Some see it as an attribute of leadership in the 21st century—right up there with judgment and courage. Consider then, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who spread the speed creed 70 years before it was cool.

This summer, a spontaneous outburst of dancing captured on video at the Sasquatch Music Festival showed the power of leaders to sway crowds. Business bloggers Seth Godin and Todd Taskey shared their thoughts on what it teaches about business innovation.