I want to start by thanking those of you who went out of your way to contact me regarding my article last week. There have been several people come forward in a big way, committing to becoming one of the “co-pilots” if you will. It was a breath of fresh air to see that others shared a similar vision, enthusiasm and willingness to try something new and stick their neck out a bit.
This week I
wanted to expand on a few ideas and thoughts regarding what VISION 2020 BREMOND
TX IS and WHAT IT IS NOT about.
WHAT
VISION 2020 IS NOT:
1.
It is not about saying that people aren’t doing
their respective jobs properly
2.
It is not about blaming others for anything
3.
It is not about looking at the past
4.
It is not about forming clicks or political coups
WHAT
VISION 2020 IS ABOUT:
1.
It is about encouraging people in our community
to step up and share their talents and strengths who wouldn’t otherwise do so
2.
It is about creating a “Leaderful” community
based on collaboration, inclusivity and connectedness
3.
It is about looking at the present and future,
not the past
4.
It is about encouraging, energizing and
collaborating with our current leaders including: those in government offices, chamber of commerce
leaders/members, school board members, educators, business owners and spiritual
leaders.
5.
It is about providing a common forum for all in
our community to facilitate more connectedness and shared goals and less of an “every
man for himself” mentality
6.
It is about making this wonderful little town
sustainable, walkable, beautiful and worthy of visits from curious out of
towners wanting to spend money.
7.
It is about adding a major source of revenue into
our town via tourism
8.
It is about improving quality of life in our
community through historical preservation, beautification efforts and adding
revenue sources to increase the overall wealth and well-being of our town
9.
It is about paring up those with brilliant ideas
but no money with those with plenty of capital but no brilliant ideas in order to
add additional commerce in our town
10.
It is about assisting those considering taking
the plunge to open or expand a business by sharing our pool of knowledge and
resources to ensure their success.
11.
It is about strategic planning to ensure that
local businesses are working with one another, and that our town is working
collaboratively with other nearby towns to create synchronicity, to create
momentum and to pool resources to better attract tourism and add revenue to our
town
12.
It is about ensuring that Bremond will be a
vibrant, beautiful, thriving, safe and wonderful place to live for our children
and grandchildren
Below is an excerpt from the book, Building
the Local Economy: Cases in Economic Development, edited by Douglas J. Watson
and John Morris (Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia,
2008). This is what they had to say
about the make-up of a successful community:
Successful communities all over
the United States understand the importance of an expansive view of community
leadership. The traditional notion of the community leader – often a mayor or
other powerful “position-holder” — as chief community problem-solver has given
way to a new, more dynamic model of the community leader as catalyst,
connector, and consensus-builder.
Dr. David Mathews, President of the Kettering
Foundation, in summarizing the findings of the Foundation’s research on
community politics, writes:
“What
stands out in the high-achieving community is not so much the characteristics
of the leaders as their number … The high-achieving community had ten times
more people providing leadership than communities of comparable size. This
[high-achieving] community is “leaderful”; that is, nearly everyone provides
some measure of initiative. And its leaders function not as gatekeepers but as
door openers, bent on widening participation.”
This new leadership model
recognizes that leadership is not confined to a few elected officials and
business leaders. Rather, successful leadership requires mobilizing the
knowledge, talents, and perspectives of every segment of the community.
Successful communities tend to be full of leaders.- -end quote
Think about how much more rewarding it
will feel to know that you were part of those beginning grass roots efforts
that gave back in a huge way to an unsuspecting little community…versus
watching it all happen in disbelief from the sidelines.
