Not finished yet

Today is an anniversary of sorts, it’s the day I placed a certificate on a shelf back in 2004. The plaque confirmed the completion of training for my first professional certification as an economic development finance professional. In completing that training series, I expected that I was getting closer to the next stage in my career. Ascending to a new plateau of technical expertise, I’d be looking forward to a new adventure in a new organization. To understand my state of expectation I need to jump back a few years earlier when I was at a decision point.

In the fall of 2002, in the throes of getting married and finishing up policy school early so I could save a bit of cash, I had a decision to make on a post-graduate job. I was torn between an entry job in economic development and one in an advocacy non-profit.

The choice would have a tremendous impact on my career, I thought, so I needed to choose wisely. While I leaned toward the non-profit, I received some key advice from my new wife Shannon Hansen and a trusted advisor at the Humphrey School Candace Campbell , swaying my decision towards economic development.

On the level, the first best advice was to take that job because it was the first offer and it came with all the extras of grownup job. Clear and simple, get paid, get health care, save for retirement and it all from an organization that will be around. The other advice that sealed my decision was to look at the job as a “finishing job”.

A finishing job, in this context, is getting real world experience on how to apply the theoretical learnings from graduate school into actual actions. Policy school, at least at the University of Minnesota , provided deep learning of how we got here through a set of deliberate decisions over time.

Contrary to good intentions, public and private sector decisions created economic disparities along racialize and social class lines in America. I wanted to do something it, however that education didn’t really equip me with tools to act. The advice was to find an opportunity to gain real world experience for a few years, learn some action skills, and then go find a “real job”. So, I took the job and started in municipal community development in early 2003.

Jumping back to August 17, 2004.  I expected while placing that new certificate on the shelf and what it represented, coupled with my degrees and a few years of professional experience, I was ready to move on. New advice over next few months, however, kept me in place. The shift in course was not because of the lack of opportunity, rather it was about people and outcomes.

I was learning the craft of community development from the mentorship of the centuries of collective experiences of my then colleagues. I was recognizing that achieving effective community development outcomes relies on an apprenticeship to really activate one’s book learning.

I realized I was not a “finished” product and was benefiting from practical education I received every day in that role. I also realized municipalities are most connected to community and if we are to eliminate disparities, community needs direct connection to decision making. And at the time, more timely advice from mentors like John Harrington , Ann Calvert, Jim Forsyth, Judy Cedar, Theresa Cunningham, Chuck Lutz , and Tom Daniel , convinced me staying in place would have most impact.

Now 20 years later, on this anniversary, I know the benefits of my advisors and mentors and how fortunate it was to have stayed in my finishing job. I also realize it is now me who has a responsibility to “pay it forward” in mentorship to the emerging generation. I’ll use this space to share lessons, learnings, and outcomes from my experience from time-to-time and continue to learn from others experiences and perspectives to further this objective. I guess I'm not “finished” yet so reach out if you want and we can share and learn together.