Leadership Tennessee gives new perspective to state's leaders
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Sometimes things look a little different from the other side of the fence.
A group of leaders from across Tennessee are getting a unique opportunity to view the issues and challenges facing the Volunteer State through a different lens as part of the Lipscomb University Nelson and Sue Andrews Institute for Civic Leadership’s Leadership Tennessee program.
Leadership Tennessee, now in its second year, is a leadership education program designed to cultivate a network of business, nonprofit, education and government leaders who are committed to looking beyond their own local purview to address the state’s challenges and opportunities as a whole.
The 2014-15 class includes 31 members from across Tennessee, including two mayors, two college presidents and various CEOs.
The group, which meets several times throughout the year in various locations around the state, met in Nashville Jan. 11-12 to learn more about the culture, challenges and opportunities in Middle Tennessee.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam met up with the class when it stopped at Casa Azafrán, which made national headlines when President Barack Obama visited the facility on Dec. 9. Casa Azafrán is a collective of nonprofits offering services in education, legal issues, health care and the arts to immigrants, refuges and the community as a whole. It was launched two years ago by Conexión Américas and its executive director Renata Soto, a member of Lipscomb’s inaugural class of Leadership Tennessee.
“This is a really cool group of people to me,” said Haslam. “I am very thankful for this program. I strongly believe this experience will enrich the participants personally and will help make our state stronger. I know so many of you and have relationships with so many of you. It’s fun for me to see people I know from different aspects of my life in this room working together.”
Haslam shared with the group his perspective on key issues facing Tennessee including education, economic development and the growing diversity of the state’s population among other topics.
“There is not a topic that is hotter or more critical than education,” said Haslam, whose Tennessee Promise program, which offers two years of tuition-free community or technical college to qualifying high school students, has caught the attention of Obama and led to his recent visit to Knoxville. “The focus on education is the right one to change the trajectory of the state. A lot of big things have happened to get our state focused on education. We need to keep that momentum going.
“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of education and how vulnerable we are right now. It’s about changing expectations. Our expectations are too low. One of the things that keeps me awake at night is worrying that we will go backwards in this area after having taken such big steps forward.”
In addition to visiting Casa Azafrán, the Leadership Tennessee class also heard from Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who talked about the city’s momentum and lessons learned; received a state funding overview; discussed higher education issues and examined the growing diversity of the region.
Class members said the experience has been very beneficial.
“Leadership Tennessee is amazingly helpful and enlightening about how much the diverse parts of the state have in common,” said Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton. “It reinforces the point that we have local differences, but we all have state government in common. We have the opportunity to see what those differences are and in the spirit of that how we can work together. We can also share together in the state’s successes. I’ve learned about things through this program that I never paused long enough to learn about. There are great things going on in Tennessee.”
Bob Higgins, president and CEO of Nashville’s Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon, said the program has given him a new perspective.
“Our firm works with communities all over Tennessee and the Southeast. One of the greatest benefits of being a part of this program is that it brings a new context to the issues and challenges that we encounter in these areas,” said Higgins. “I get to see things through the eyes of people in these regions and to meet people who are in the trenches. It is a great experience for me.”
University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro said the program “gives me a whole new network of people. The collegial nature of the group is great. I have learned a great deal every day we have been together.”
Meaningful conversation with leaders from across the state has been one of the most beneficial aspects of the program for Sarah Morgan, president of the Benwood Foundation in Chattanooga.
“We have had deep, real conversations with a network of peers across the state who represent a cross-sector of experience and professions,” she said. “These conversations have allowed different perspectives to add to what the facts tell us about issues. It is easy to get so single focused and hyper-local in our view point. It is good to see how we fit into the state structure.”
Lipscomb University's Vice President for External Affairs John Lowry said the relationships that are being formed as part of the program will be beneficial in the future.
"Already there are valuable collaborations forming as a result of the relationships that are developing and the networks that are being built through our interaction with each other," said Lowry, who is also executive director of Spark. "It is laying the foundation for productive and collaborative work in the future that will greatly benefit the entire state."
Leadership Tennessee is a 10-month program that provides collaborative learning and dialogue spanning the state’s three grand divisions, issue-specific education for demonstrated leaders, a diverse representation of participants and opportunities to affect change. The Class of 2014-15 participated in an opening retreat in Maryville, Tenn., in August and met in Chattanooga this past fall in addition to participating in other activities, research and projects to date. The group will meet again in Knoxville March 8-9.
Nominations for the third Leadership Tennessee class will be accepted until March 15. Nomination forms can be found online at leadershiptennessee.org/nominate.