MentorsI've been blessed in this life with great teachers. My relationship with just a few of them are described here.
Mike ConboyJust a few days after I moved to Ann Arbor, I started work for Mike Conboy. My job was to provide computer support and training to economic developers all over the state of Michigan. From the my very first day at work, Mike helped me learn that my job wasn't to help people become great computer users. It was to help them become better economic developers, and we would use computers to do it. For the next six years, every day at work was like going to school. I learned to appreciate people. I learned how listen to them, and help them do what they needed to get done. I also learned the art and science of economic development from the father of the profession in Michigan. Sometimes Mike knew I could learn things when I wouldn't allow myself to: I once argued with him for two hours that it was impossible to create a mapping system that he envisioned. He finally convinced me to go try it. Twenty minutes later, it was done. The most important mantra I learned from Mike is one that I've called on often since he retired five years ago: "There's no greater power than the power of being right." Tom MartinTom Martin was my boss in my first economic development job at the Michigan Department of Commerce in 1984. My job was to research the impact of new federal regulation of industrial revenue bonds on Michigan communities. Tom gave me the perfect environment to dive into my passion for economic development policy: a lot of very challenging assignments, the freedom to find creative ways to get work accomplished, and guidance from a master in his field. It was that summer that I first worked with a microcomputer when Commerce received their first shipments. Tom encouraged me to dive into them, and my relationship with computers was born. Life has taken me away from my public policy roots, but part of me will always aspire to be like Tom Martin. I think that he's the ideal role model for a great public policy professional. Any time I've come in contact with him over the years, my admiration has always increased. Birgit KlohsWhen I started work on my first project for Tom Marin, I looked at records of every Indusrial Revenue Bond ever issued in Michigan, and Birgit Klohs' name appeared over and over. I asked a co-worker who the hell this person was, and how she could generate all of these deals. "Why don't you ask her?" he said. "She works at the Department of Commerce now. Her office is right across the hall." I walked over and looked in her office. I might have said "hi." I was pretty shy back then. About the time I moved to Ann Arbor, Birgit moved to Grand Raipids. Soon after that, she became the first president of the Right Place Program. Watching her work over the last ten years as been an incredible education in how to organize a community, and how to utilize that orgzation to get work done. It is the best economic development program in Michigan, and it is led by the best economic developer in the world. I don't think Birgit never takes "no" for an answer, but she always seems to know the right time to go after what she needs. Julie PetersenI've never met Julie in person, but the live she's lived over the past couple years was the single greatest influence on my decision to put this thing on the web. I first has contact with Julie when I was browsing staff pages at Hotwired, and found someone who shared my religious relationship with Walt Whitman's writings. Her vision for the web showed an deep understanding of how the net could have a significant impact on our relationships with each other. I checked back at her home page occasionally until one day when her masterful site was gone, and in its place was a totally beautiful, and totally nude, self portrait. The journey she had embarked upon, and the new life that was born out of it...well, just go check it out yourself. Julie is still singing out what's in her soul at her site at www.awaken.org. If you know anyone who can influence who gets MacArthur Fellowships, please point them at Julie. Heather AllenHeather came into my life just as I was evolving into what I am today. When I've been ready to explore uncharted-charted territories, Heather has often helped me navigate. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali teaches that prodigious yogic powers can arise through five means: mantras, drugs, disciplined practice, profound meditation, or as in Heather's case, one can be born with them. I think she knew more about the workings of the Universe the day she was born than most people learn in a lifetime. By the time she moved out west, I had taught Heather how to re-wire a phone closet. She helped me learn a lot about life. |
