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 As I?m writing this, I?m about to celebrate my third anniversary as President and CEO of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship -- that would be third anniversary in weeks, not years. In that three weeks, have I got it all figured out? Not hardly. But I?m very excited about the opportunity we have in front of us, and I?m fortunate that because of the work of our founders, particularly Becky Morgan and Doug Henton, and my predecessor, John Parr, the Alliance for Regional Stewardship is in a great position to do great things.
I really believe that there?s a spot on the map for the Alliance . Why? Because From Grand Rapids to Central Florida to Chicago to the Silicon Valley, across America more and more communities are coming to two important conclusions: many of their toughest challenges and biggest opportunities are regional in that they cross political and geographic boundaries -- and that solving these kinds of tough problems will require leaders working together across boundaries as well.
What are these regional issues that respect no boundaries? We all know them: creating jobs for our young graduates; getting people to jobs; protecting natural resources like water and open space; investing in education, arts and culture, and recreation so that our citizens can lead healthy, fulfilling, productive lives; preparing for and recovering from natural and man-made emergencies.
The tough part is not identifying what the issues are, but figuring out how to tackle them. Faced with that challenge, over the years some communities have created new regional governments to deal with these kinds of issues at the right scale. Sometimes that works well. But for the vast majority of communities, creating new regional governments is a tough sell. Instead, they rely on a ?pickup team? approach that brings together leaders from the public, private, and independent sectors around specific challenges and opportunities. Who plays on these pickup teams? The Executive Director of the local arts museum, the bank president, the head of the United Way, the community foundation President, the President of the local community college, the elected county executive, the high-tech executive, the neighborhood activist. These problem-solving teams come together to solve tough regional problems, and then disband when their work is done until the next challenge appears.
Community pickup teams spring from a deep well of American tradition. It?s the spirit that Ben Franklin brought to organizing volunteer fire brigades and mutual insurance funds. It?s the peculiar fondness, noted by Alexis deTocqueville in the early years of the American experiment, that Americans have for voluntary associations. It?s everything from the incredible response of American volunteers in times of disaster to the joint venture approach to innovation practiced in Silicon Valley . It is the spirit that John Gardner, President of the Carnegie Corporation, Presidential Cabinet member, and founder of Common Cause and the Independent Sector embodied in his life and in his writing and teaching. I think it?s what we mean by stewardship.
Stewardship is, admittedly, an arcane word that today surfaces most often when your alma mater or religious organization or local hospital nears its annual fund drive. But it?s a powerful concept. It suggests a long-term commitment to a place and an ideal, a commitment not aligned neatly with profession or place in society but to a responsibility to act together on behalf of the greater good, to benefit a greater community or a greater cause.
If American communities embrace the pickup team approach, it?s also clear that the teams need good coaching -- the game is tough and the odds of failure high. When problems cross political and geographic boundaries, they?re pretty tough problems indeed. That?s why the Alliance for Regional Stewardship was created in 2000. The Alliance brings together the leading practitioners regional stewards from around the country to learn and practice together the strategies and tactics that lead to results. By creating a national learning network of regional leaders, and with the intensive advising and coaching of its Gardner Academies, the Alliance helps community leaders learn how to work together to build vibrant, competitive regions.
In the process of helping communities solve problems, the Alliance also hopes to build confidence. For the practice of stewardship measures success not just in outcomes but in the character and the legacy of the effort. Ultimately, some community initiatives will succeed, and others fail, but all initiatives should add to, not subtract from a community?s reservoir of confidence.
What is confidence and why is it so important? In her book Confidence, Harvard professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter suggests it?s nothing more or less than a positive expectation about the future that, in very, very powerful ways, paves the way for success. Creating confidence a sweet spot between arrogance and despair may be the most important task of leadership. And how, she asks, do successful leaders create a sense of confidence, whether in athletic teams, companies or communities? They face facts, encourage innovation, get people working together across departments, jurisdictions, sectors, boundaries.
Learn and practice, learn and practice, learn and practice. It works for piano scales and it works in solving problems and building communities. By bringing together those who learn and practice stewardship around the country, the Alliance for Regional Stewardship aims for nothing less than to create a robust new sense of confidence in American communities that together they can shape their own destiny. I look forward to the journey with you.
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