Common Ground, Common Future: Moral Agency in Public Administration, Professions, and Citizenship examines the public and private roles of the citizen as a moral agent. The authors define this agent as a person who recognizes morality as a motive for action, and not only follows moral principles but also acknowledges morality as his or her principal. The book explains that public administration is a fundamentally moral enterprise that exists to serve the values that society considers significant, and that this moral nature makes public administration a prototype for other professions to emulate, a model of moral governance in American society.

The title reflects the book's principal purpose and abiding hope: the development of a broad perspective on our individual and collective roles and responsibilities as citizens, professionals, and moral beings, with a recognition of mutual obligations to the large and small challenges inherent in the process of governance.