The private sector could learn a thing or two from the public sector.

That’s right. Local government can teach valuable lessons to our business community that every company should be aware of.

And no: The lesson is not how not to think, act or in any way be like the government. Although in most cases this is pretty good advice; Los Angeles government can be frustrating, inefficient, unresponsive and stunningly dumb.

But it can also be smart, effective and inclusive, and share with us the best practices it’s developed through many years of experience.

Although this might sound a little crazy, it’s time we start to think about what our companies can learn from the government because the pressures and demands that were once exclusively the public sector’s problems are now the private sector’s problems, too.

And whether it’s dealing with more diverse and powerful stakeholders, building meaningful community relationships or combating an enormous degree of uncertainty, the government can share very important lessons, including:

Better Stakeholder Management

As leaders like Bruce Gillman of the Department of Transportation will tell you, our municipal departments in Los Angeles have always had to “carefully balance tens of thousands of diverse and often conflicting constituencies in order to deliver public services. They have to manage the concerns of elected officials, neighborhood councils, homeowners associations, private companies, residents, non-profits and countless others.”

Simply put, in order to get anything done in the public sector all stakeholders must be included. Period. Local businesses like Guess Inc., on the other hand, have had to balance the interests of a relatively small number of shareholders and customers to be wildly successful.

But this is changing: Now local companies’ customers, employees, suppliers and shareholders are becoming more representative of Los Angeles – in culture, gender and economic background – and influential in how our companies govern themselves, in the products and services that are offered, and in how, where and why revenue is generated. To survive and prosper in this new era of increasingly multicultural and powerful stakeholders, our businesses must accommodate these unique new players within our company structures and supply chains just like our local government always has.

Meaningful Community Relationships

Too often our businesses confuse “community relationships” with short-term charity projects meant to generate positive publicity. This approach has to stop. It defeats the entire purpose of being a genuine partner with the public and undermines our credibility.

If we want to be successful in partnering with the public, we need to focus on being good corporate citizens by providing new local jobs, implementing environmentally sustainable practices, and spurring social and economic growth in local neighborhoods. Not only will this help revitalize the community, but it will gradually help to win the support and business of Angelenos everywhere. It’s that simple. With these relationships our companies can be more economically competitive and be good stewards of our social and environmental landscapes.

If our businesses look to the Department of Public Works’ Dominguez Gap Wetlands project, for example, where the agency focused on collaborating with the community inexpensively to expand resident access to higher-quality drinking water, accelerate environmental restoration and create new local jobs, we can learn great lessons in how to be sincere partners with the community. After all, it’s the public sector’s job to build these win-win relationships and our companies can learn how to do the same.

Battling Uncertainty

Public policy planning is extremely difficult. There are just as many known factors are there are unknown factors: How does a municipal agency plan to create a public program three years from now, for example, when it doesn’t know what the budget, demographics and public landscape will look like when the program takes effect? Similarly, how can our businesses do any advanced long-term planning in this economy when we don’t know what next week holds, what the new economy will look like, who some of our competitors will be or even if we will still be around?

Put differently, this means our companies are now fighting the same uncertainty the government always has and we need to figure out how to successfully do it, too. Agencies like the Los Angeles Police Department, for example, have battled tough economic times through the years and still managed to reduce crime dramatically. It didn’t have the budget but still got the job done. We must apply the same approach to our businesses.

Simply put, if our companies boldly adopt these key practices that the public sector has honed over many years, our economic, social, cultural and environmental systems all stand to benefit greatly. Our stakeholders will be more representative, our community relationships will be stronger and our strategic planning will be better.

And to accomplish all of this, our businesses must aspire to be a little more like the government – but not too much more.

Rob Carpenter is an entrepreneur and writer. He lives in Los Angeles.