It’s officially summer – the time when we Pacific Northwesterners peel off the layers and soak in all that our region has to offer, like hiking, biking, kayaking and paddle boarding. I’m not a Puget Sound region native, but after nearly 30 years on the West Coast I am a true believer: the West is Best. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
But the West Coast recently made an appearance in a less-than-flattering headline: The New York Times ran an opinion piece titled “What have we liberals done to the West Coast?”
I cringed a little at the title, and I won’t dissect every point – there were many good ones – but there were three lines that stand out to me as we work collectively to solve problems and seize opportunities.
The first was “politics always is part theater, but out West too often we settle for being performative rather than substantive.” The sentiment here is real: too often the only outcome is the performance and too often it is in response to listening to the loudest – but perhaps not the majority – of voices. It is saying what they want to hear, regardless of if it is the right thing to do and regardless of the intent or ability to get results.
The second was a quote from the Oregon Democratic Congressional stalwart Earl Blumenauer, who said: “People are much more interested in ideology than actual results.” Or said elsewhere in the column, “we accept a yawning gulf between our values and our outcomes.” That notion of getting results and outcomes is what Seattleites want. We see it in the results of our public opinion research, The Index, and we saw it in the results of Seattle’s last election.
The point is not to bash West Coasters or liberals – I’m both of those. It’s also not to discredit our many successes. And it’s certainly not to let the people who seek to undermine democracy, put women’s health at risk, and embrace discrimination go without scrutiny and criticism.
But this notion of not being satisfied until we actually get the outcomes we want is something leaders need to embrace. It’s great to win hearts and minds, but the questions we need to ask are:
- Is the work getting done?
- What are the results?
- Are the results good enough?
The answers to those questions need to be better for some of our regional efforts and the agencies tasked with delivering them. But we don’t throw up our hands, settle for status quo, or abandon ship. We put our shoulder in, course correct, bring in the experience needed, and stick with it. I don’t believe anything is impossible or any institution ungovernable.
I have great confidence in Sound Transit CEO Goran Sparrman and Terri Mestas, the new deputy CEO for megaproject delivery. Sue Rahr is stepping in as Interim Seattle Police Chief – she is someone who is known for driving culture change. And Dr. Kelly Kinnison was named CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, even as headlines about the agency’s issues persist.
This November, we’ll usher in many new leaders at the state level, including governor, attorney general, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction superintendent, and legislators.
We need strong leaders who will face challenges head on. We need leaders with a bias toward action – not theater. We need to set an expectation of results and outcomes, not just winning hearts and minds.
Look at Acting Chief of Seattle CARE Amy Smith and Acting City Manager of Bellevue Diane Carlson; look at Mayors Angela Birney from Redmond and Nancy Backus from Auburn; look at community organization CEOs Michelle Merriweather from Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and Joy Shigaki from Friends of Waterfront Seattle – these are all incredible regional leaders getting it done every day.
I’m a year-round optimist, but summer is a great time to be optimistic. I’m optimistic about new leaders, optimistic about solving problems, and optimistic about the Best Coast.
Happy summer,
Rachel
Rachel Smith
President and CEO