March 2019

Is Mayor TenHaken a ‘Lab Rat’ for Bloomberg?

l3wis March 29, 2019 6Comments

I recently read this interview with Mayor TenHaken;

TenHaken, 41, entered office with lots of ideas from his private-sector days about how to build an innovative culture. He said it all went into overdrive last summer. That’s when he joined 39 other mayors to kick off a yearlong executive training program through the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

While PTH may find this as a great opportunity for the city (but mostly himself, on our dime) I have often been of the opinion that we should elect leaders that are ready to lead. On the job training is NOT a great attribute in a city administrator. In fact, other cities that have actual city administrators instead of a strong mayor setup hire administrators with experience or at least degrees in the field.

That’s why the Bloomberg Leadership training seems like some Harvard experiment to see how much they can influence local government across the country. And quite frankly it is quite scary how much PTH is following suit.

What strikes me is the cultish appeal this “human-centered design” problem solving method of approach seems to have among the leaders & quoted participants (which has actually been around for decades).

“By the time Sioux Falls is ready to start piloting some solutions this summer, they’ll have confidence that they’re on to ideas that respond to real needs in the community, are likely to work, and represent innovation for Sioux Falls and its residents.”

Now, granted: those are presumably the words of whoever wrote this article for Bloomberg Cities (I don’t see a byline). However, it’s a pretty bold statement which seems to say this is a can’t lose proposition. I’m not inclined to believe very many “it can’t lose” claims.

Maybe it is just PTH and his young crew. He and his tribe seem smug; holding their cards close. Elbowing ahead with little explanation for the public about their process and goals. They know better. They have it all figured out. Brats!

It is frustrating to read quotes like this from Paul;

“We’ve got so many problems in the city that we were tackling the same way we did 10 years ago, and making two degrees of change,” TenHaken said. “That’s not enough”,

Especially in light of this pothole response. Is that just being perpetually critical of new ideas which aren’t mine/ours? Well, to a certain extent . . . yeah, probably. But, also – in the same way Former Mayor Bowlcut & Bucktooth wanted to erect monuments to himself while neglecting infrastructure – I think PTH is focused on intellectually titillating, entrepreneurially-exciting new org charts for municipal government and hi-tech innovations . . . to the exclusion of the basics. I remain a devotee of a healthy dose of “You gotta walk before you can run”; make sure you can take care of what you’ve already built before you take on more. Sure. Solving public transportation issues has merit and it deserves attention concurrent with other municipal responsibilities. But, fixing more potholes more quickly doesn’t take “cross-departmental synthesizing of key insights “, for chrissakes. Simply greater emphasis, higher expenditures: more teams, more trucks, more patch materials.

Innovation?

Maybe further explore new patching products (letting contractors in Europe handle their own R & D has helped them to construct better roads). And, instead of coddling department heads & staff for doing what they’ve always done (“Ohhh, we have to endlessly express our appreciation to our employees and bring them donuts” – I’m sure Wellness Director Michaels loves that), a leader (boss/administrator/head honcho) needs to hold his subordinates accountable. What successful coach babies his players to get winning results out of them??!!!! I guess one that gets it’s training from Bloomberg.

(CHB contributed to this post)