Networking with Other Municipal Leaders is Invaluable

Thursday was Day Two of new mayor’s training here at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.  I’m back here this week with Mayor-Elect John Curtis from Provo and 18 other mayors-elect from various large cities throughout the U.S.  John and I were commenting today that the more we talk to other elected officials from around the country, the more we appreciate the well managed state that Utah is, the relative strong economy we enjoy, and the good people of our cities.  We talked to a mayor from a city in Connecticut with a 50% high school dropout rate, and the new mayor of Flint, Michigan who will be battling with 16% unemployment. 
 
A highlight of conferences like these is the opportunity to talk in casual settings with government leaders who have seen interesting times, associated with interesting people, and addressed difficult problems.  At lunch today I sat with the mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, who was sharing some of the innovative ways his city has become greener.  At dinner tonight I sat with former Minnesota Senator (and former St. Paul mayor) Norm Coleman.  Having lost a very close recount to Al Franken recently, Coleman had an interesting perspective on challenges facing America, the role of mayors, and the future of the Republican Party.  As a history buff, it was enjoyable to spend some time this evening with Lizabeth Cohen, chair of the Harvard History Department and historian (and now Harvard University President) Drew Faust.
 
The conferences today have been helpful, and we’ve had workshops on ethics, marketing and branding, and mayors and the media.  The ethics discussion was interesting, and we dissected a case study of President Kennedy lying in office and discussed whether a mayor should ever lie.  Mayor David Cicilline had recently led Providence, Rhode Island through an effort to rebrand them the “Creative Capital”, and as a marketing guy I enjoyed hearing of what they had done.  Finally, Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City shared great advice on how to interact with the media.
 
These conferences are of a great value, in my opinion.  Just as in true federalism, we can have a nation of 50 different state “laboratories of democracy” trying different ideas; with cities we have hundreds of “laboratories” from around the country attacking similar problems in myriad ways.   By collaborating and sharing best practices, we can bring this knowledge home to Utah to help make our cities better.