The word "reinvention" hardly captures the success of former Director Philip Diehl's efforts to revitalize the U.S. Mint. The high-tech, high-revenue, high-energy Mint of today bears little resemblance to the anachronistic, strictly by-the-clock, ossified organization that Diehl took charge of in 1994.

How did Diehl accomplish such an overwhelming overhaul? The answer lies in his varied, and sometimes precedent-setting, problem-solving and reinvention strategies: improve customer service, partner with the public, and manage the business of government like a real business.

Diehl put the Mint into "fast forward" mode ...

Among the first trouble spots addressed by Diehl was the Mint's reputation for poor customer service that was, unfortunately, all too justified. After all, the Mint had been taking a full eight weeks to fill half of its mail orders for coins, coin-based jewelry, and related products. But, all that changed when Diehl arrived.

Shortly after taking charge, Diehl put the Mint into "fast forward" mode by making a number of changes. First, he boosted his staff's sense of urgency by publicly committing to speedier processing. Then, he gave the Mint the tools to meet higher customer expectations, starting with a multi-million dollar computer system, the Consolidated Information System (COINS), which is virtually worth its weight in gold.