Nashville mayor shares an inside look at leadership approach
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Spend just a few minutes around Nashville Mayor Megan Barry and you quickly learn two things—she has a lot of energy and she loves Nashville.
Barry, who has just completed the first year of her first term as the seventh mayor of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, made history in September 2015 when she won a decisive victory in a run-off election to become the first woman and first member of the Metro Council to be elected mayor.
She stopped by the Lipscomb University campus Oct. 6 to sit down with Tom Ingram, Lipscomb alumnus and an influential adviser to corporate and government officials for more than 40 years, for a “look behind the curtain” in the latest installment of “now that you ask…” The conversation series is hosted by Ingram, the man called the “most influential person in Tennessee politics who does not hold elected office,” and hosted by the College of Leadership & Public Service’s Nelson & Sue Andrews Institute for Civic Leadership.
“I’ve enjoyed the year watching her, and have been privileged to see her passion for this community and to pick up on issues that are of extreme importance to us and to lead us in ways that are productive and meaningful in resolving those,” said Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry.
Born in Santa Ana, California, and raised in Overland Park, Kansas, Barry said when she was young she wanted to be a journalist or a lawyer when she grew up. She graduated from Baker University with a degree and education, and after a short time in the classroom she said she “quickly discovered that teachers have one of the toughest jobs,” and decided to pursue another career path.
Barry was living and working in London when she decided to move to Nashville in 1991 to earn her MBA at Vanderbilt University. She said she didn’t plan on staying in Nashville once she completed her degree, but found it to be a place that felt like home. It’s a place she has called home now for 25 years.
Following graduation from Vanderbilt, Barry built a 20-year career as an ethics compliance officer and consultant in the telecommunications and health care sectors. In 2007 and 2011, she was elected to serve as one of five at-large members of the Metro Council. Then, last year Barry was elected mayor, which she said is the best job she has ever had.
“A lot of people would like to be the mayor of Nashville,” she said. “I enjoy what I do. I love my job. I love my family. I love my community. I get excited about the fact that we are doing so well in Nashville.”
Ingram asked Barry if being the first female to hold the office of Nashville mayor brings a difference to the way that role is carried out.
“When you are a new person coming into an office, you are definitely able to use your version of leadership and your style,” said Barry. “What makes my office different from previous mayors’ is that we are very much focused on collaboration. I see the mayor’s office as a convener of conversations in our community, and to take those conversations and link them to action. I think that’s definitely what I bring to the table.”
Barry has several priorities as mayor including improving educational outcomes in Nashville’s public schools, engaging regional and state partners to develop a unified vision and plan for transportation, creating more affordable housing options for residents of all backgrounds and continuing to grow the economy while ensuring all parts of Davidson County share in the prosperity. She has set big goals, and Barry said she will work hard to reach them.
“One of the great aspects of being a mayor is that a mayor has the ability to actually get things done,” she said. “At the state and federal level it’s much more difficult. When you’re the mayor, people expect you to fix their potholes, to pave their roads and to put down sidewalks — and you have the ability to do that.”
“When I’m talking to people with housing or transportation issues or are underemployed, I see that we still have crevices of poverty even with all of the wonderful things happening in our city. Those are the sobering moments when you realize that not everyone has the same ladder and opportunities in Nashville, and that’s part of what drives me to make an impact in those key areas. And a mayor, in collaboration with the council and other partners in the community, has the ability to get things done on the local level.”
Meeting with constituents, city leaders and others is just one aspect of a mayor’s hectic schedule. In fact on the night Barry came to Lipscomb, she had two additional commitments. Days are often long with little down time. But Barry said she believes being visible is important.
“What motivates me to do this is that I am serving our community,” said Barry. “Being able to be out there and seeing what the citizens need is essential. People want to see their mayor. They want to actually interact with the folks they’ve elected. They want to be able to tell others that they’ve met the mayor and got a few minutes of her time to talk about something that’s important to them. I want to make myself available so I can do as much of that as possible. Then I can take those conversations back to my staff.”
Barry said she draws her energy from being around people. “But I do have to decompress,” she admitted. “I can’t always be in the thick of things.”
“I do a lot of hot yoga to decompress,” Barry quipped.
Barry also finds walking to be an activity that gives her time to recharge her batteries and to reflect.
“I love to listen to music,” she said. “I love to put my headphones on and walk around this town. I take my ball cap, my baseball and my glove; and walk around town and put my music on and just walk.”
Sometimes her “Tennessee brown dogs,” Hank (named for Hank Williams) and Boris (named for Boris Badenov from “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” fame), are her walking companions on these excursions.
Barry said that her hectic schedule is a challenge to balancing her personal life with the demands of her job. Her husband, Bruce, is a professor at Vanderbilt University, and their son, Max, is a senior in college.
“With my son being a senior in college, it’s a little easier to take on this job without a child at home,” said Barry. “Bruce and I both work a lot in the jobs we have. You have to be intentional about making time together and at home a priority.”
Although Barry said she has been shaped by a number of people and experiences, she credits her grandmother with being her hero.
“My grandmother is a great example of a woman who, in the 1930s, went to college and got a college degree, which was very unusual at the time,” said Barry. “She graduated with a degree in home economics from the University of Iowa. She got a job with the gas company. She would go out and teach new brides how to cook on their gas stove. She was an amazing businesswoman. She helped my grandfather with his several businesses, and he was successful because of her.”
Barry said her grandmother inspired her to pursue goals such as running for mayor, which she said is living up to her expectations after just a year on the job.
“It’s the best job I’ve ever had, and probably the best job I will ever have,” said Barry. “It’s one of those jobs where there is so much going on. You have to focus on multiple things. But clearly what being mayor has done is for me to realize my desire to serve, which came from my family. My mom was always very focused on making sure we were kids who had compassion and were involved in volunteer opportunities. My grandparents were also involved in making sure we gave back. It was just a part of who we were.”
Previous editions of now that you ask… have featured one-on-ones with Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam; Tennessee’s First Lady Crissy Haslam; John Seigenthaler, a leader in American journalism and politics; Beth Harwell, Tennessee’s first female Speaker of the House; Loucas George, former producer of the ABC show “Nashville,” author Jon Meacham and David Keene, Opinion Editor for The Washington Times.