One of my favorite definitions of leadership is that a leader constantly reminds us of who we are.
By that definition, negativity cannot be leadership because most people, most communities and most businesses are not malevolent.

We have to appeal to our better angels if we are going to solve problems and progress.
Last Thursday, there were three shootings within an hour during the middle of the day in Delray Beach. The shootings happened a few blocks from an international tennis tournament and prompted the closing of a park and the lockdown of a neighborhood. A 19 year old man was injured and a 30 year old man– a father and a recently hired city employee was killed.
When this level of violence strikes a community it exacts a toll: I live across the street from the park that was closed. Granted that street is Lake Ida Road, a heavily travelled four lane road so it doesn’t feel quite so close… but it is–we are all knit together in Delray and my neighbors reacted with expressions of fear.
“Are we safe?”, they asked.
“I have kids, this was the middle of the day, what’s going on here?”
What’s going on here is real life.
We have a wonderful city and it has come a long way but we have challenges and issues far greater than traffic or whether putting an IPic and 400 plus jobs downtown is good or bad.

We have serious problems that far surpass whether “Uptown Delray”– a huge investment slated for West Atlantic Avenue– is a few parking spaces deficient under the old rules. The Beach Area Master Plan is an opportunity not a problem and so is the Arts Warehouse and the revitalization of Old School Square Park.
So what are the problems?
There’s a bad batch of heroin going around the city as we speak and a whopping 55 people have overdosed on heroin in 2016 and it’s early in the year folks.
Three shootings in a day is a problem, even if it is traced to a Hatfield McCoy like family feud. You may not be a Hatfield and you may not be a McCoy but if bullets are flying you could be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So leadership has to remind us who we really are.
We have achieved great things in this town. Once unsafe neighborhoods have been made safe, a once dormant downtown is now a national attraction (Florida’s new ‘sweet spot’ says the Wall Street Journal) and less high profile efforts including the Campaign for Grade Level Reading are working–test scores are up.
So we know how to solve problems in this city. We know how to get things done.
We know how to make our streets safer and fortunately we are blessed with a very solid police department.
We also know how to work together.
We are a caring and compassionate community when it counts.
Leadership reminds us who we are.
There’s a lot of talk about what makes a village a village. And I believe it’s how we treat each other. Not during the good times, but during the trying times.
This is a trying time for our Police Department and for many families struggling with violence, loss and addiction.
What’s needed is leadership, compassion, understanding, dialogue, smart strategy and execution.
What’s also needed is perspective and prioritization.
Your biggest problem is not that $700 million wants to be invested in your city. Sure getting it right is important. Make sure the projects follow the rules and are well designed and that the uses make sense. Work with people, if they refuse kick them to the curb. But the good ones will work with you. The good ones will listen and adjust and if it improves their projects it’s what we call “win win”. Seek win win wherever possible and it’s almost always possible.
We have to get to the truly big stuff. People are dying out there.
They need our help to stop the violence and overcome addiction.