How one mayor built an innovation culture, step by step
Innovation doesn’t have to be flashy to change lives. Sometimes, what makes the biggest difference is when a mayor takes seemingly simple, deliberate steps to put civil servants in position to try new things and work in new ways so they can better tackle whatever is most urgent in their communities. That’s what’s happening in Knoxville, Tenn., where Mayor Indya Kincannon has, over the past several years, helped position her team to develop innovative approaches at addressing everything from gun violence to building-permit bottlenecks.
A closer look at these steps through the eyes of individual Knoxville city employees offers insights that can help other city leaders as they aim to build stronger cultures of risk-taking and experimentation.
Fit to purpose: Cities position themselves to be more effective
Cities around the world have become far better at understanding what works and at spotting what's coming next. They collect richer data, run more evaluations, and use foresight tools to anticipate change. But many still face a crucial challenge: turning that awareness into action.
