Change and trust are partners for growth

An African Proverb reads “When spiderwebs unite, they can tie up a lion.”

This is the foundation idea around “Connect” – an initiative to build communication and trust between business, government and education leaders in our community. The discussion will revolve around how we build on our assets and how we provide solutions to overcoming the barriers holding us back.

Over the last couple of years, our community has lost Virginia K. Shehee and Norman Kinsey – a couple of community leaders who made this a better place for the last 60 years. They were always there to listen to new ideas and then provide the connections and follow-through to turn idea generation into idea implementation.

The community leadership of Shehee and Kinsey can never be replaced because they are both very unique individuals. However, the work they did for this community must be carried on if this place we call home is to thrive in the 21st century. They understood the best approach to business development is community development – that education, healthcare infrastructure, and community quality of life are the keys to growth for both the development of current businesses and the attraction of new ones.

Shehee and Kinsey made connections.

They listened and then weighed what they did against the vision of making Shreveport a place our children and grandchildren want to stay to live and work and others want to come and call home. The Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce is committed to taking up this work of making connections.

The Chamber is serving as a convener of the “Connect” initiative. We are connecting leadership of business organizations like the Committee of 100, Manufacturers Council, Shreveport-Bossier African-American Chamber, North Louisiana Economic Partnership, Young Professional’s Initiative, Strategic Action Council and Leadership Shreveport; with leadership representation of major business sectors; with leadership of non-profit organizations like the Community Foundation and United Way; with higher education leadership from LSU Health Sciences Center, LSU-Shreveport, Southern University and BPCC; and government leaders like Mayor Ollie Tyler; CAO City of Shreveport Brian Crawford; Dr. T. Lamar Goree, superintendent of Caddo Parish schools; Caddo Parish Administrator Dr. Woody Wilson; and Chief Academic Officer of Caddo Parish Keith Burton.

At the same time, we have developed a group of 30 emerging leaders that form the Connect Emerging Leader Council. Both councils are working to change the question governing the interaction between business and government from “What can you do for us?” to “What can we do together to make Shreveport a better place to live and work?” The two councils are developing ideas around the following three questions:

1. What’s working in Shreveport-Bossier City and how can we do more of it?

2. What’s missing that, if provided, would make a big difference in our community?

3. What can business leaders do to help bridge the gap between generations?

Leadership from all sectors know reaching the potential of Shreveport-Bossier will require us to bridgex economic, racial and generation gaps. We start closing gaps by determining common ground, developing a shared set of key priorities, educating ourselves about these priorities, building new networks and trust, connecting people with similar passions, and turning ideas into action.

Thirty-five years ago, I moved to another southern city for my residency and fellowship. Its economy was based on a naval and air base and an academic medical center. It had a significant historical foundation. The city had significant blight and crime around the downtown area that was inhibiting downtown revitalization. They had just elected a new mayor – Joseph Reily.

Turn the clock up to 2016. Thirty-five years later, Charleston, S.C., is a great tourist attraction. It has a diverse economy, and you and I can’t afford the real estate downtown.

The academic medical center has grown, and they weathered the loss of the naval and air force base. The leadership is stable; Reily is still the mayor.

In Charleston, business, education and government leaders worked together.

The attitude described by Bishop Larry Brandon as “we are better together” is a reality in Charleston. They have worked to build relationships and trust and the whole community has realized the benefit.

Last year, the leadership of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce went to Charleston. Their chief executive officer, Jason El Koubi, sent two quotes to me from Reily that impacted him. Reily said “The first thing is to know what’s on people’s hearts, then you can go forward confidently and their hearts will rejoice when you get there.” He also said, “Change happens at the speed of trust.” We can connect and be successful as a community only if we build trust. This is required if we are to act together.

The movie “The Wizard of Oz” holds two key lessons. The first is we can’t look for the man behind the curtain to solve our concerns. The second is everything we need to be successful we already have:

The Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man all had courage, brains and a heart.

We already have people like Tyler, Wilson and Goree as leaders in our government and education sectors. We already have leadership in business organizations and the nonprofit community willing to work together. We already have emerging leaders willing to engage and provide solutions.

Our community can connect now because we have plenty of people who understand the proverb “When spiderwebs unite, they can tie up a lion.”

Please forward any correspondence concerning Connect to Lindy Broderick at [email protected].

Phillip Rozeman, M.D., is the president and a founding physician of Cardiovascular Consultants.

He is a native of Shreveport and has been a practicing cardiologist in Northwest Louisiana since 1984.