5 minute read
Business: Leading the Way
LEADING THE WAY
The Columbus Way clears a path to tackle economic and social issues.
Promoters of metro areas seeking to attract new jobs and residents while solving critical community issues often start with new slogans or logos to begin presenting a consistent message in marketing efforts. Those campaigns often falter when the various private-, public- and nonprofit-sector stakeholders fail to pull together in telling their region’s story through actions backing the words.
Not so in Columbus and the greater Columbus Region, where publicand private-sector leaders frequently join forces for the greater good of the community. Together, they’ve recognized that their collective values and principles guide not just how the Columbus Region shows itself off to others, but also how corporate and civic leaders interact with one another while attracting new opportunities. Together, these values and principles embody the Columbus Way. (See “The Columbus Way,” next page.)
“This is one of our most distinct assets: that spirit of teamwork throughout the city and the Region,” says Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther. “It’s more than downtown and Scioto riverfront revitalization. It’s also about Smart Columbus on transportation issues, the [Carmenton] innovation district tech park at Ohio State, affordable housing as a workforce issue, the saving of the Columbus Crew [soccer franchise], healthcare and education.”
Ginther says he sought to show his commitment to the Columbus Way soon after election to his first term, when he traveled to suburban city halls rather than inviting those communities’ leaders downtown to his office. “It was to send a clear message [that] we were going to act as part of a region.”
This era of cooperation and collaboration was stewarded in part by a handful of top business execs who gathered two decades ago to form the Columbus Partnership, with a focus on leaning in to collaboration while thinking and acting regionally. That shift in thinking became a sea change that led to a string of big community, economic development and project wins, capped in 2022 by the landing of the Intel Corp. microchip factory campus in New Albany.
Don DePerro, the CEO of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, says the Columbus Way motivated his organization to step up assistance to Black-owned businesses with its Urban Business Connection, which offers enhanced memberships, event tickets and opportunities for consultations and networking. “What we’re doing is providing platforms,” says DePerro.
He tells the story of one encounter that allowed a former Worthington Schools teacher, Douglas Buckley, to launch a business importing coffee beans from Tanzania in East Africa, where he had served as a long-term missionary before returning to Central Ohio. Greg Ubert, CEO of local coffee roaster Crimson Cup, connected Buckley with an investor to launch Black Kahawa Coffee; Crimson Cup also bought a portion of the first batch of green beans for its own roasting and distribution business, as Buckley seeks to sell to other small-batch roasters across the Midwest. “It’s all about making connections through the program,” DePerro says.
“The Columbus Way” moniker emerged in the wake of a Harvard Business School case-study class in the late 2010s that examined the deep level of regional thinking within the counties that make up the city’s metropolitan statistical area. The phrase, by that time, had already become an organic way regional stakeholders referred to the area’s collaborative spirit.
It goes beyond mere private-public partnerships, says Columbus Partnership COO Irene Alvarez. “What underpins the Columbus Way is this shared set of values,” she explains. “What sets Columbus leaders apart isn’t just that we work together; it’s how we work together. It’s about the beliefs we share and act upon.”
The tagline and related value statements have caught on, both in economic development and in social and cultural senses—shown with the widespread support for the Pelotonia cancer fundraiser for Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, which culminates each summer in a three-day bicycle fundraising event, and the vocal fans during the #SavetheCrew campaign to keep the Major League Soccer team in Columbus. But it’s in the economic development arena where the Columbus Way has shown its power to lift up the fortunes of the Region as a whole. “It isn’t just rhetoric; the Columbus Way really works,” says DePerro. “Every project helps the Region, and there’s enough to go around.”
The Columbus Way
At its core, the Columbus Way is anchored by a set of values and principles that power progress:
Values
• Ambition: The drive to reach new heights and never sit still.
• Inclusivity: The recognition that leaders and change agents spring from everywhere.
• Collaboration: Harnessing the power of hearts and minds that are united by a shared vision.
• Common Good: A commitment to service that elevates all.
• Fellowship: Our unique type of togetherness that powers progress.
Principles
• Accountability: Mutual accountability leads openness, communication and transparency.
• Respect: Respecting each other and the common good make us better caretakers of the community.
• Integrity: Dedication to honesty and acting with a sense of right and wrong builds community confidence.
• Trust: Counting on each other builds a sense of certainty and commitment.
MALLORY DONALDSON
The Center for Healthy Families | Chief Program Officer of Advocacy, Public Policy and Information | Moved here in 2009 from Houston, Texas
