When we started this session in August of last year, I was single. I lived in a bachelor pad. I drove a vintage 1962 Ford Falcon. I worked for one of the largest construction management companies in the Southeast. I earned performance and production bonuses. I played golf in exotic places. And I refused to square dance.
When I was invited to participate in Leadership Chattanooga, I did a little research. The alumni roster was impressive: Yusef Hakeem, Sally Robinson, Bob Corker. I thought this was an invitation to become part of the famed Chattanooga power structure.
Finally! Penciling people in, “networking” at cocktail parties, having my people call your people, moving and shaking.
I was shocked at our first gathering to find a room full of bankers, lawyers, teachers and peanut M&M’s.Where is the cocktail party? Where’s the smoke? Where’s the power structure? Where’s Ken Hays?
Over the course of the program, my perspective changed.
In one of the first sessions, Jack Murrah with the Lyndhurst Foundation spoke to the group about Chattanooga — in his estimation a town that is at a critical crossroads.
The right efforts will drive it down the path that will lead to its destiny, that of a town rising above differences — racial, economic and class — that are often exaggerated in our society, a town that is healthy and whole, incorporating diversity.
A lack of efforts will allow the city to head down the other road, falling the way of other southern towns that have been absorbed into a giant, homogenous strip mall.
Jack Murrah convinced me that the future of this city is in my hands and the hands of my Leadership Chattanooga classmates. This room full of engineers and accountants and marketers? These people seem too, well, regular. They don’t seem like smoke-filled, VIP-event types.
An interesting idea: a power structure can be created by people who have enthusiasm and a desire to contribute. Not money or pedigree or connections.
Later we met Dr.Mark Mendenhall at the Chickamauga Battlefield. Among the stories Dr.Mendenhall told us was one that involved resources, using them and being them.
I thought about myself as a resource.What am I bringing to the table in my community, my work, my relationships? What is my gift? Am I capable of managing budgets for multi-million dollar construction projects? I think so. My company seems to think so. Is my work contributing in a bigger way than bringing home a paycheck?
I worked for a great company. They are good people. They are ethical and smart. Their work helps stimulate the economy and does a lot to keep Chattanooga on the map.
But are my contributions to this job and this company the best use of me as a resource?
What about my community — am I giving my community the resource I want to give? The resource I am most capable of giving?
I served on boards of directors. I’ve been a Big Brother. I am not unfriendly towards strangers. I vote. I break for wildlife. Is that enough?
A trip outside of town accelerated my changing perspective. Bill Purcell, the mayor of Nashville, spoke to us about improvement. In any situation — no matter what we’re looking at, we are the catalyst for improvement. If there is something lacking or something I am not pleased with, it is because there is something I haven’t done.
The school system, crime in the city, not having an auto plant. What was I doing about it? Criticizing did not count.
Mayor Purcell spoke to us about his vision of a great city. While Brentwood and Bellemeade are nice, he pointed out that a community is only as strong as its inner city. If the inner city neighborhoods aren’t right, the city isn’t right.
Coincidentally I was about to make a life-changing decision.
This decision touched on these three topics that were most compelling to me throughout the Leadership Chattanooga class.
Jack Murrah’s certainty that the fate of this community is in our hands.
Dr. Mendenhall’s story about being my best resource.
Bill Purcell’s saying that the inner-city is the most telling and possibly the most important place in a city.
I have left my great job with the large construction management company and gone to work for a non-profit. I have taken on the challenge of being what I believe is a stronger resource for myself.
In this class I have met Chattanooga’s power structure: everyday people who are enthusiastic about our city, energetic about being involved in helping it get better, people who want our city to reach its destiny.
Todd Dockery who collects PEZ dispensers and impersonates Elvis;Wendell Boring, an amateur locksmith and holistic medicine aficionado; Michelle Lewis who is fluent in three languages; Ronelle Sellers, a fitness instructor who once had a date with Hawk from American Gladiator; John Burhman, the Eagle Scout.
I told you that Leadership Chattanooga has changed my life.
I am now married. I live in a house. I drive a practical car. I work for a non-profit agency. There are no bonuses. Golf? Goony Golf is as good as it gets. Thanks to Celeste, I have now square-danced.
