Akron African-American Festival. Credit: Benjamin Lehman on Flickr.com

Having the ability to support people who are doing good things in their community is most certainly a dream job. The feelings that can come from equipping people to take action on what they most care about can be incredible. The tough part is that needs always exceed what’s available and that the job of a grantmaker involves as much head as it does heart.  Related links: 

“Josh McManus, tapping into the innate ambition of Akron, Ohio” (July 29, 2014)

“Josh McManus will lead Knight Foundation investments in Akron” (July 2, 2014) Press release

As I join a new team to serve and honor the legacy of the Knight brothers in their hometown, I am humbled by the task at hand. More than 30 years after his death, Jack Knight still looms large in the minds of many of the Akronites that I’ve already met.  Though Mr. Knight traveled the world many times over, he always returned to a two-mile corridor in Downtown Akron that stretches from the Beacon Journal to the Portage Country Club. By all accounts, Jack Knight loved Akron and always wanted the best for the city and its residents.

Charting a course to respect such a storied legacy is daunting. Knight Foundation has set a clear course for supporting cities that reflects Mr. Knight’s belief in nurturing talent, encouraging the pursuit of enterprise and opportunity and equipping citizens to be informed and engaged. I’ll marry this mandate with a few lessons I’ve learned along the way:

1.     Honest is the only policy: My grandfather lived this mantra every day of his life. While the temporary pain of calling things as you see them can take some getting used to, I’ve learned that complete candor tends to strengthen good work and help with management of expectations in the long term.

2.     In all things, be hopeful and helpful: This lesson comes from my adopted grandmother.  She beautifully ran some of the most intense meetings that I’ve ever been in using these two simple rules.

3.     If in doubt, simplify: Projects tend to fail on complexity since, in my experience, it is much easier to say everything and not just what needs to be said. Separating ideas allows for more control, testing for outcomes and learning from results.

4.     Retention complements attraction: These days most cities are talking about talent. Those that seem to attract the best and brightest first do a great job of acknowledging and engaging those that are already there. Attraction without sound retention simply creates a talent turnstile with few residual benefits for a city.

5.     Innovation is a cross-disciplinary sport: We took flight at the hands of bicycle mechanics, and electricity and the light bulb were shepherded into existence at the hands of a trained clockmaker.  Fascinating things happen when individuals from wildly different disciplines work together on the most pressing needs of a community.

6.     Don’t confuse movement with progress: In a world of infinite connectivity, consumption is often equated to understanding and activity is mistaken for advancement.  Real and tangible goals, even if aspirational, are necessary to measure the dynamic work of city progress.

7.     Love problems, not solutions: Passed to me by Eric Avner from the Haile Foundation in Cincinnati, this lesson is critical in the city improvement world. We must never lose sight of the fact that our own ideas and systems are only as good as their ability to resolve the issue being pursued.

Most importantly, the task at hand is to be party to maximizing the potential of Akron and its citizens who toil every day to make it better.  Jack Knight said it best in his philosophy for his newspapers: “We seek to bestir the people into an awareness of their own condition, provide inspiration for their thoughts and rouse them to pursue their true interests.”

Josh McManus is Akron program director at Knight Foundation.