Unpacking Three Days in Nashville (TLH Delegation)

5:30a Monday morning, sitting on the plane as it was getting ready to take off, I looked around, seeing Tallahassee’s leaders from every sector on board and thought to myself, “If this plane goes down Tallahassee is in deep trouble.” Fortunately, all our travels went off without a hitch, and we all made it back safely.

Keeping with the plane theme, my 30,000ft take away is this, Tallahassee has amazing people who care deeply about our city. The very fact that eighty community leaders, at their expense, would travel to another city to learn how we can make our city even better is a testament to the deep commitment they have to make Tallahassee the best it can be.

On the ground, I was very impressed with the vision and unity of Nashville’s public and private sectors to maximize their cities quality of life. I read in the Tallahassee Democrat’s Zing section that “Tallahassee would never become Nashville” and if that is why you think we went, you missed the point. The point is to learn, engage, discuss, and experience new ideas for inclusion, empowerment, and equity in our local economy and society.

During our time there we met with public and private leaders who shared their experience discussing the benefits and challenges of creative collaboration across all sectors. The collective chorus was that it was/is hard, but it IS worth it.

My personal takeaways are:

Tallahassee has an identity crisis. In 2006, there was a line in the hit show, LOST, “All Tallahassee is, is strip malls and Waffle Houses.” A lot has changed in eleven years; we now have amazing local restaurants like The Blu Halo, Backwoods Crossing, and Fat Noodle, we also have cool organizations like INNE, DOMI, and the Jim Moran Institute that create amazing value for our community. State Government and Higher Ed are the foundation of our community, a firm foundation for us to build the best small town in America.

Tallahassee has amazing leadership across all sectors. As stated above, the fact that eighty people would spend their money and their precious time to help improve our city is a testament to the depth of commitment and love they have for Tallahassee. Every person there could have used a three-day vacation to relax and unwind, but they chose to leave their friends, family, businesses, customers, and boards for one reason, to make Tallahassee the best it can be.

Unity of purpose can solve a lot of problems. I have a firm belief that termites, not woodpeckers are your biggest threat to your home. The same is true with our city home, there is not a big enough woodpecker that can destroy our city home, but we need to deal with the termites, people who want to damage our structure. The best remedy for termites is clarity of vision that we as a community can unite around.

The value of the Tallahassee/Nashville Delegation is what lives beyond it. The Democrat wrote an article titled, Is Tallahassee Better after Boulder? So, what will the headline be in a couple of years when Tallahassee leader go to another city, or better yet, what will the headline read when another city comes to Tallahassee?