Ed.'s note:
This week is the second installment of Michael J. Brennan's series, "The Seven Disciplines of a Community of Progress: Creating a New Path."
In it, Brennan, the president of United Way for Southeastern Michigan, explores how our region has and can continue to move forward.To read the first installment, click here.
Next month: "Discipline Two: Embrace the Genius of the And."
Discipline One: Believe It to be PossibleTransformational progress occurs because someone or some group first believed it to be possible. Whether it was fighting for equality like Rosa Parks or Nelson Mandela, or creating the first PC in Steven Job's garage, or challenging a nation to put a man on the moon before the end of a decade as did President John F. Kennedy, greatness never takes place absent of a belief in the possible.
The one thing that has struck me upon my return is the presence of a pervasive view that the core issues facing the region can't be solved. A healthy dose of skepticism has its place, but a cancer of doubt is a killer. If a region's belief system is that progress on the racial divide, the development of a new economy, the reduction in the concentration of poverty, the rise to national excellence in education, and the establishment of mass transportation are not possible to achieve in "my lifetime," then how does one expect progress to occur?
"In Chicago, progress is more important than turf. In southeastern Michigan, too often turf is more important than progress."
— Chicago developer's observation of the region as told by Paul Hillegonds, former president of Detroit Renaissance.
When a recent high-level executive transferred here from another Midwestern city, he received many congratulatory comments from friends and associates from around the country. Eager and enthusiastic about the new opportunity, he was taken aback when upon his arrival people asked him, "What did you do wrong to get yourself transferred here?"
Yet, I am confident that – long time resident, automotive tycoon and Super Bowl Chair – Roger Penske's belief in the region was key to making sure the Super Bowl arrived in Detroit. The heritage many of us were weaned on is 'making the impossible come true': Henry Ford's ambition that every American could afford a car; Berry Gordy's dream that a small label called Motown Records could be the 'sound of young America'; Joe Louis' belief that a kid from Detroit could be Champion of the World; and Mike Illitch's vision that the Fox Theatre could once again be a world-class venue. Somewhere along the way, over time, confidence in the possible has been displaced by the dysfunction of the past.
In my estimation, we must put the strut back in our step.
Accept where we are at today — yes — but move forward with confidence to create a new path — to write a new story.
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."
— Henry Ford
The fact that the odds are stacked against this region because of its economic and social woes are, in my view, the catalyst needed to move us to unprecedented action. The difficulty of success does not alleviate our obligation to boldly move forward. We have a defining moment in front of us. We are often defined by a dying economic engine, concentrated poverty and a racial divide. We don't have a monopoly on these issues, but ours often seem much more pronounced. What if, over time, the region became known for its unique adeptness to leverage its strengths, improve upon its weaknesses, and shape a redefined future of progress?
Just like a century ago, when there was extensive industrial and social innovation in our region, the time has come to find our confidence and capability to do what is possible. There will be a day that new economy cities will have displaced industries. Even India is concerned because the local bicycle manufacturers are moving production to China.
We are confronting what many regions will face 50 years from now. Just as this region was a forerunner in the industrialization of America, it can model a new path. Despite the steepest of challenges, southeastern Michigan can forge new paths of renewal. The new economies and cities of this country will one day face the many issues we encounter today. Will they look to the work of this region as a blueprint for a way forward?
Discipline one in actionI walked through the lobby at Harper Hospital and saw in a glass case a bright silver machine that changed medicine. I later learned that very machine was developed because a group of people believed they could make something important happen.
When Charles Wilson, chairman of General Motors in the middle of the 20th century, found out that the National Institute for Health had just abandoned any research on a mechanical heart, he asked others to think differently and make it possible. Through the work of the American Heart Association, Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill from Harper Hospital in Detroit and several engineers at General Motors, the Dodrill-GMR (General Motors Research) Heart Machine was born. In 1952, the first "open heart" surgery was performed to save a 41-year-old man's life. Dodrill, a surgeon at Wayne State University's Harper Hospital in Detroit, partnered with General Motors on an innovation that looked like an old Cadillac V-12 engine. But the six cylinders on each side of the "engine" were separate chambers for pumping blood.
"To develop this revolutionary machine, many GM engineers and researchers volunteered their time to support this great medical advancement," said Joel Bender, M.D., then General Motors' corporate medical director.
Whether it's the Super Bowl, a heart machine, or intergovernmental cooperation, without leaders who believe it is possible, progress is difficult. Our history is full of doing what others viewed as impossible. Let's make sure this generation and the next one carry that torch forward.
Michael Brennan's Seven Disciplines of a Community of Progress:
1. Believe It to be Possible2. Embrace the Genius of the And
3. Pass the Torch of Leadership
4. Power of Three
5. Get on Base
6. Strengthen the Citizen Muscle
7. Only Everyone
What is the Regional Activation Zone? A place to Get inspired. Get informed. Get connected.
Read about it here.
Volunteer Center:United Way connects individuals
and groups with meaningful volunteer opportunities throughout the
region. Through Volunteer Solutions, United Way's online matching tool,
you can find an opportunity that interests you and is close to home.
Get started by
clicking here.2-1-1:
Dial
2-1-1 to be connected to more than 7,000 health and human services in
southeast Michigan. Whether you need assistance or want to lend a hand,
2-1-1 is there for you. To learn more, or submit a request online,
click here.
Photograph © Dave Krieger