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Mayors whine sometimes. Anthony A. Williams, mayor of the District of Columbia, cheerfully acknowledged as much during his keynote talk at HBS in February, as he recounted the challenges of trying to satisfy his many diverse constituencies.
Speaking as part of the day-long Dialogue on Social Enterprise, a student-run program jointly coordinated by HBS and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government on February 24, Williams told students that rebuilding a government is not unlike building a bridge, given all the competing forces that are involved. His administration's efforts to find creative, novel ways of attacking problems in the city, he said, such as introducing scorecards for all city agencies, and actively encouraging so-called public-private partnerships, are not always simple to implement nor readily accepted.
| If there's not tension between me and my electorate, I'm not doing my job. And obviously if I pull too hard and ... get run out of town, I haven't succeeded, either. |
| —Anthony A. Williams |
Aside from a foundation for the bridge, Williams continued, a bridge needs a superstructure of just the right design. "Analogize that to my situation, and what I always say is that we've got to have that proper level of tension.... If you're pushing change, if there's not tension between me and my electorate, I'm not doing my job. And obviously, if I pull too hard and the thing snaps and I get run out of town, I haven't succeeded, either."
The Dialogue on Social Enterprise brought together students and about 30 professionals to consider the umbrella theme "How do we manage the business of social change?" Panels and discussions focussed on topics such as education, community and international development, and new models for charitable giving, including venture philanthropy, which applies venture capital-style funding and oversight to nonprofits.
Management first
Since his inauguration two years ago, Williams told the audience, his administration has installed a range of programs designed to improve life in D.C. These include boosting joint efforts by public and private groups; attracting investment ($3 billion in the past three years, he said); launching a scorecard system to measure progress at all levels of D.C. administration, from his office on down; and galvanizing citizens to get directly involved in their communities.
Prior to his election as mayor, Williams served as chief financial officer for the city from 1995 to 1998, and had been the first-ever CFO for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Those responsibilities, in addition to 15 years as a public official, led him to deliberately apply business-style strategies to city management. The belief in the importance of strategy is one element that all nonprofits, businesses, and governments have in common, he added.
One way Williams has pulled tension in the line as mayor, he told the audience at HBS, was to acknowledge to his electorate that D.C. has limited resources. The city had to focus on its areas of strength to get ahead, he said. And in order to stabilize all 39 neighborhoods, his administration decided to start with just six.
"It's like a front. You take a thousand [soldiers] and advance them out," Williams said. "You punch a hole, you can go a hundred miles. It's the same thing in development. You've got to focus and leverage your resources.... It's the only way we're going to see visible change over a period of time."
When the 39 neighborhoods were surveyed, he said, certain ones needed "preservation," while others required "heavy, massive investment." The six that have been tapped for special attention were on a threshold, said Williams, where with a marginal increase in government involvement, the potential for positive change can be great. These areas already possess schools, major institutions that provide an anchor, and housing patterns that are "trending" the right way.
Among the numerous public-private partnerships Williams mentioned, one is a new metro station that was built using a combination of funds from the district and federal governments and from local landowners who expect to see an appreciation on their property. Another is the resurrection of a technology-oriented high school, McKinley High School, with funding provided by technology companies, the district government, and private individuals.
Crossing boundaries
Queried about the controversial proposal by President George W. Bush to devote federal funds to "faith-based" organizations, Williams told the HBS audience that the faith community already plays a strong role in community services such as counseling and children's daycare.
"I come to this [issue] as a public official in a big city, an African American public official," Williams explained. "In the African American community, certainly, and in the Latino community, the church is very important. It's one of the most durable structures in the community."
The potential for the church to play a beneficial role is obvious, he said, "if you can find a way to get through the fiefdoms" and help people work together and cooperate on common goals.
In addition to the dangers of running afoul of church-state boundaries, Williams said — adding that the issue needs to be addressed — there is another problem: merely throwing money around, Federal or otherwise, is no sure cure. "We saw this in previous government programs, social service programs, in our city," Williams told the group. "I'll give you an example. We have spent millions of dollars in community development organizations, and we don't have a lot to show for it.
"There's no reason in and of itself ... why spending a million or a trillion more dollars in faith institutions, without the proper oversight, without the proper performance management," means that a city will have anything more to show for itself, Williams said. The management and control issues remain.
"As a general rule," he added, "with those caveats, with those cautions, I think if you're in an urban setting and you want to produce change, you've got to figure out a way."