Key individuals change a community. What if cities hired civic headhunters to recruit interesting change-makers?
The Power of an Individual in a Company
Large organizations and companies in technical fields have long understood the importance of an individual. They hire headhunters to hire the one, perfect executive, developer or strategist.
Once a valuable employee is hired, companies go even further. They offer stock options, professional development and performance bonuses to provide economically for the employee.
Culture is important as well. Companies such as Google will go as far as offering free haircuts; ping-pong, billiards and Foosball; subsidized massages, on-site doctors and free laundry to keep their employees happy.
The headhunting, economic and culture incentives are all provided because these companies know the value of a good employee and the cost of losing an employee. Cities, typically, focus only on economic incentives and are missing two essential components to attract and retain change-makers: headhunting and cultural incentives.
The Power of an Individual in a City
A motivated individual is even more important in a city than in a company. In a company, the employee is most often given a list of tasks to complete, so they have direction and know their role. In a city, there are no jobs. In fact, most people in a community pay little to no attention to getting involved in civic life.
The few that do, however, make a huge impact. Their outsized influence directs the city and its development. These change-makers are the ones who start events, create businesses or organizations and bring new ideas to the community. Without these fresh thinkers, cities are average and mundane. With them, cities develop personalities and unique characteristics that attract more change-makers.
In this way, attracting the right individual makes a community interesting, diverse and vibrant.
Civic Headhunters
Despite the importance of individuals in a community, civic headhunters do not exist.
Imagine if your community had a Community Headhunting Officer (CHO). Their sole job would be to find and attract interesting people who would contribute new ideas and activities to your community. What type of people would you ask them to find for your community? How many of those people would your CHO have to bring before your community started to change?
I found myself asking this question this week. A professor who moved to my home of Brookings shared lunch with me. She brings amazing ideas, a wealth of experience and a willingness to participate and make Brookings her home. She is exactly what our community needs to be more intellectual, activist and welcoming to people who look and think differently than the people who already live here.
After one year in Brookings, however, she doesn’t always feel welcomed. It has taken her a while to meet people and to even feel comfortable. Her employer is not giving her the “Google treatment,” making her feel irreplaceable. Could the CHO step-in and do the job?
Civic Retention
Attracting talent is the first step. Most cities are focused on the second step by providing the economic environment for businesses to thrive. Tax breaks, building permits, low-interest loans, etc. are oft-used tools in the civic tool-belt.
The third step is culture. For most people, especially millennials, money is not the only reason to move to a community. Instead, the culture within a community is a top reason to move and stay there.
Culture is an integral piece to the health of a community, and members of the community should drive culture. Many cities get involved culturally by supporting events, parks and annual festivals. This is a great start. Next they should be individually connecting new residents and key community members with other change-makers.
Additionally, creating little perks, akin to Google haircuts, go a long way. The mayor that randomly invites community members to coffee, the Chamber that encourages and helps a resident to start a business and the community member that attends a new musical or cultural event are all simple ways to make individuals feel welcomed and important to the community.
Most cities will say, “we do that.” Yes, but you can’t sit back and wait for people to ask you for support. Communities cannot afford to lose change-makers, so they need to search for opportunities to help them.
You are a Civic Headhunter
Here’s the secret: the job of civic headhunter is one we all share.
If you want to build the community you want to live in, you need to fill it with people that make it better. That means you need to promote your city, you need to encourage people to move there and you need to ensure that current change-makers feel welcomed and appreciated.
The best part is, the definition of change-maker is different to all of us. We all want different things from our community, so when we democratize the role of CHO, we all find and welcome different community members. This makes our cities diverse and vibrant.
Cities should think like a large company and encourage its residents to all be CHO’s. Attracting a few engaged individuals quickly changes a community. Retaining a few engaged individuals makes it more likely that other change-makers will choose your community.
An individual can single-handedly change the direction of a community. A gaggle of change-makers will transform your community into the place you have always dreamed of living in.
Featured Art: The Son of Man, Rene Magritte
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