Because I love quotes, I decided to title my column this week after the famous quote used by Winston Churchill when speaking to the British Parliament during World War II.
The famous words, “Never, never give up” were used back then to motivate and inspire an entire country during a dark time. It did exactly that. Those same or similar words can certainly be used today to inspire communities and businesses to raise their bar, reach higher, and achieve greater goals, as well.
Any community seeking to become truly local in mind, action and deed will have setbacks along the way. Climbing high mountains was never meant to be easy. Overcoming decades of tradition, culture, and customs are rarely done overnight. Overcoming political obstacles and mismanagement isn’t for the faint of heart. Fighting for the future well-being of your community will never come without obtaining a few battle wounds and scars along the way.
Just as Winston Churchill inspired a nation with those famous words, local leaders can likewise inspire their communities to be and do better. True local leaders need not have the seats in government, that is rarely the case. Local influential leaders come from all walks of life and position. Truly local leaders are a community’s best asset and most often they lead by example.
Recently, I heard of a community trying to become more local in nature, outsourcing a contract for a selected service (that could have been provided locally) to another company in a community miles away. In doing so, they sent valuable taxpayer dollars in the form of commissions to another community at the expense of the local taxpayers. Bear in mind, those tax dollars leave the community for good, never to return. The community has missed out on the local compounding impact of those tax dollars, which numerous studies have shown to be between three to seven times the actual dollar amount. As an example, if a community sends $10,000 away, that is between $30,000 and $70,000 that will no longer be taxable and is lost to community forever. The city and taxpayer are both losers in this scenario.
Make no mistake, these types of things happen across the country quite often in many communities with leaders rarely stopping to think of the local ramifications of their actions. However, as I shared with a reader who wrote in, these types of situations, while hurtful to the community in the short-term, can be used to make lemonade out of the lemons they have been given.
Thus, the title of this week’s column, never, never give up. Leaders, media, business owners and others need to take these examples and use them as educational opportunities for the entire community. It is a great opportunity for the media, the chamber, and others to discuss and write about the situation educating all the taxpayers. It is a great opportunity for citizens to question their leaders at council meetings constantly. It is a great time to educate the community to the value of every tax dollar being spent. This is a great opportunity for true leaders to lead. Not lead by accusation and negative words, but by educational and positive actions.
Bear in mind, government will usually take the easiest and safest route, after all, in years past, that has proven to bring about the least amount of consternation. It is up to “We the people” to force new direction and alternative paths, and then support and encourage them when they venture down that path.
Yes, it is okay to be disappointed when you have these types of setbacks, that is human nature even leaders must deal with. So yes, be disappointed, go through your five stages of grief for about 24 hours, then get up and dust yourself off and get to work.
View these setbacks as opportunities, view them as examples from which to build, treat them as they are, actions by those that really don’t understand the true value of being truly local. Nothing more or nothing less. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither will a community transform in day. I’ll close just as I started, “Never, never give up!”
John Newby, author of the "Building Main Street, Not Wall Street " weekly column and CEO of Truly-Local, LLC, dedicated to assisting communities create excitement, energy and combine synergies with their local media where local is often lost to corporately-owned entities and the Internet. He can be reached by email at info@Truly-Localllc.com.
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JOHN NEWBY: 'Never, never give up' - Manistee News Advocate
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