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.
Applying a new lens on city storytelling
Capturing people's attention is one of the first steps in successful storytelling. And, in today's fast-paced and fragmented media space, newsletters, press releases, and Facebook posts are rarely enough for local leaders looking to connect with residents. That's why a city-backed photo exhibit in Philadelphia really stands out. By spotlighting views of the city from where civil servants literally sit, the effort offers a model for how cities can be more ambitious, more experimental and, ultimately, more effective in their outreach.
