By Dean Hybl, executive director, Ten at the Top
Success in the 21st-century global economy occurs when governments, businesses and civic organizations from across a region (not just one city, business or organization) recognize that the most effective way to address an issue impeding their success is by working collaboratively and innovatively to identify and implement the best solution.
That is the message conveyed to more than 800 Upstate South Carolina leaders recently by former Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood during the Ten at the Top Upstate Regional Summit: Re-Checking Our Reality.
Hood said that geographic boundaries are artificial and don’t reflect how we do business in the modern economy or how most residents think of their community.
On multiple occasions during her tenure as mayor of Orlando, Hood made financial contributions to support projects that were technically not happening in her city limits, but would clearly provide benefits for her residents as well as the larger region.
“Just because something is not being physically located in your city doesn’t mean that it won’t provide a benefit and that you shouldn’t support it,” Hood said.
As we look to continue building a cohesive Upstate region where collaboration and partnerships are common and beneficial to all, this is an important message to remember.
It was probably best articulated during the Summit by Terence Roberts, mayor of Anderson, who said he answers comments from his residents who tell him they need a baseball team in Anderson by saying “We have one; it’s called the Greenville Drive.”
According to Hood, one of the most important elements of thinking regionally is building relationships, but that is often a step that gets lost when communities within a region come together only when there is a crisis to address.
She cited Envision Utah in Salt Lake City and myregion.org in central Florida as examples of organizations that have been created by communities to focus on building their regional capacity so that leaders from across the region are building relationships on a regular basis and thus can easily mobilize when a crisis or opportunity arises.
Ten at the Top was formed here in the Upstate by leaders who saw those models and believed the Upstate could be stronger if there was an organization here with the primary mission of convening leaders, building trust and creating regional capacity so the Upstate is better positioned to address current and future issues and opportunities.
“You [the Upstate] are becoming a national model in many ways,” Hood said. “You are recognizing that cross-sector collaboration has value, and that will help you in the future.”
As we look toward the future here in the Upstate, there are many issues that we must continue to address collectively if we hope to reach our full potential.
At the Summit, participants specifically identified several: Transportation and infrastructure, creating economic and community vibrancy in both urban and rural areas, workforce and skill development and creating a culture of lifelong learning are areas where they see opportunities for cross-sector and cross-jurisdictional collaboration as a way to address components of the issue.
Attendees were also asked “What’s Next Upstate?” on how to move forward ways to address these issues and shared many great ideas and personal visions for how the Upstate can work collectively to ensure that we are successfully addressing these areas.
