Guest Opinion: Community leadership lessons from the Chicago Cubs
As a lifelong Cubs fan, watching the Cubs win the World Series in the most dramatic fashion brought a range of emotions. With the happiness also came sadness for the people who poured blood, sweat and tears into the team for decades and were not here to help celebrate the culmination of their hard work.
The Cubs franchise today is better because of the players, staff and fans who came before them. This year’s victory would not have been so bittersweet without all the curveballs thrown their way the last 108 years.
Baseball, especially the Chicago Cubs, is not very different from community development and public policy. A dedicated generation of leaders with a vision and sound plan have the ability to create a lasting legacy for a community, but are not always there to witness it come to life.
It is hard to remember that change takes time, usually is not easy and comes with challenges along the way. True leaders face the challenges head-on and commit to a project for the long haul, even when an end is not easily viewable. I have had the privilege of hearing community leaders, including many women, discuss projects like the Civic Center, the Science Center and the Botanical Center, and how these projects that are now such staples to our community faced a point in time where their future was not certain.
I challenge everyone, especially young professionals, to meet with a community leader who helped guide a large community project to learn about the dedication and time frame it took to make it come to fruition. Just like the Cubs, our community is better because of all the leaders who came before us, and there is a lot we can learn from their trials and tribulations.
Working on public policy and state legislative issues has a similar feel. When you are passionate about effecting change for the betterment of the state, it is easy to get discouraged if a policy priority did not pass during its first legislative session. But just like the perennial Cubs saying, “There’s always next year,” passion, education, team-building and persistence can help get a good policy priority around third base and headed home if you believe in it and keep with it.
It is already being said that this year’s Game 7 was the greatest game in the greatest World Series ever played. The win would not have been so momentous if it were any other two teams playing than these two teams that have repeatedly stepped up to the plate after years of strikeouts. Great things are worth believing in, waiting for and working toward. That’s leadership.
Jessica Maldonado is the public affairs manager for PolicyWorks, assisting clients with public affairs, advocacy efforts and events. Prior to joining PolicyWorks, she spent nearly 10 years at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Maldonado is a 2016 Forty Under 40 honoree, a member of Lead Like a Lady and a 2013 graduate of the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute. She serves on the Community Connect Mentor Council, is a member of Variety’s Polo on the Green committee and is part of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs Gala Committee.
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