Accelerate!

For those who think that one person or a vocal handful can’t make a difference, take a look at chess in St. Louis. One person with a vision has been successful at getting St. Louis on the map for youth and professional chess competitions. Sure, I know chess is a bit geeky and a small feather in a big city’s cap, but for a city with as many social issues as St. Louis it’s had a better return on investment than many initiatives. Thanks to Sinquefield (a millionaire with a purpose), St. Louis now appears on top-10 chess cities, not just in the USA, but the world:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-10-best-chess-cities-in-the-world

Anyway, I say we agree on the vision, pursue some analysis (crowd-sourced, I hope -- I don't have all the answers for sure!), and then take some purposeful action. A while back I did a short talk where I said what I’d like to see as a process for individuals to get involved in making Tulsa a better place. I sketched out a simple diagram, in a circle of four elements, with “Iterate” in the middle:

- Participate – get out and do something!

- Facilitate – help get others going

- Collaborate – work with like-minded people

- Integrate – join forces to promote broader progress

- Iterate – do it again, better

And finally: Accelerate – do it faster

Yeah, I know, I was on an “-ate” kick at the time (there are a gazillion words that end with –ate, by the way – you could make all sorts of catchy lists), but I still think the notion is solid. Get out and do something, work together, get organized, then do more. The angle I’ll add this time is that clearly it would be better to have a vision and a strategy, plus a good team, and that’s what I’ve been working to better understand since. I’d be happy to discuss goals for a bit, and then next time get into the meat of fostering purposeful city-wide innovation. I believe we can do this.