Staying Focused, Within Your Circle of Control

Those who read this blog no doubt realize that I often refer back to Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Staying within one's "Circle of Control" is an admonition to focus on what you can control and let the rest fall by the wayside. Too much time is spent worrying about things over which we have no control. This concept enables people to maintain focus on values and principals that align with their priorities, which helps them to manage their time and resources to do First Things First, the Third Habit of Highly Effective People. Cities have a great opportunity, but they need to know how to play the game in order to partner with private sector providers who will have more and more choices on which city to partner with.

Cities that spend the time to take a long hard look at what they do, how they do it, and most importantly, why they do it, whether they work with consultants or do it on their own, will be in the best position to engage with private sector partners to take advantage of opportunities coming down the pike. Those who do not do their homework or spend time in such belly button gazing will take what fate throws their way, and I think that will be the case with most cities.

The special elite few cities will do as I suggest herein, spending time and energy and resources to get it right. Others will do as they are used to. Some will get lucky and hit a home run and feel pretty good about themselves, many will dink out singles and feel like they did well enough, and many more will strike out. And there will be those cities that sit outside the stadium wondering what all the fuss is about.

For all those in city government who have day dreamed about what they could do with a wireless network, now is the time. I would recommend that you take the bull by the horns and take the first step: lay out a plan to take advantage of any opportunity in the near term. Diagram your strengths and weaknesses, and map out your possibilities. The winds of change are blowing, and now is the time to understand what makes your city tick, and how your city is different and unique - special - when compared to other cities. Now is the time to Know Yourself and thus, separate your city from the pack of cities who carry on with business as usual.

When the opportunity arises, those cities that know themselves will cut the best deals with private sector partners, because they are a Joy to do business with, providing profitable results and low risks and minimal hassles. Those are the cities that private sector providers want to do business with.