Break Through: Re-envisioning Deficits as Assets

On April 27, we were pleased to welcome more than 1,000 of you at CenterState CEO’s annual meeting, as we explored our theme of “Break Through.” Through the lens of the Onondaga Lake cleanup effort, we were reminded of how that project — at one point one of our community’s most daunting challenges — serves as a model for what can be achieved when we re-envision our deficits as assets and come together around a common goal. And while the work in and around the lake is certainly not finished, after decades of hoping, pushing, and partnering, it has reached a point where what once seemed impossible is now a dawning reality. We broke through.

Break-through moments are something that we all strive to achieve. This quest is certainly seen across the private sector and in the achievements of our 2017 Business of the Year recipients. It’s what drives the focused vision to establish Central New York as a hub of technology and manufacturing development for the unmanned aircraft systems industry, and it’s behind our community’s approach to combatting the scourge of poverty and neighborhood blight.

Change on any scale is hard, but it’s the very challenges that make the breakthroughs so significant. That’s a lesson we’ve learned from Chuckie Holstein, a once-in-a-lifetime leader who has driven us all to do achieve the very things others said were impossible. At the annual meeting, we recognized her for her decades of dedication and commitment to this community.

It was Chuckie, and F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse, who engaged the public in a conversation 20 years ago that resulted in the articulation of 87 goals for the community. We have since seen many tangible accomplishments on those priorities, including a fully-funded Say Yes to Education program, a world-class hospital for children, and a Landmark Theatre with a second chance at life. Our downtown, the heart of our community, is a place that is vibrant and livable, and so much more.

None of these things happened without a robust civic discourse, even disagreement. But in the end, they each were achieved because we came together to bridge the chasm between our individual visions and a common goal of success for the greater community. So, when the detractors tell you it’s impossible, that it can’t be done, that it will not happen in our lifetime, take a step back and look at all we have accomplished together, even when it was hard. Let’s look upon our deficits not as faults, but as assets waiting to be uncovered or rediscovered. Let’s remind ourselves of who we are and of what we are capable.

Robert M. (Rob) Simpson is president and CEO of CenterState CEO, the primary economic-development organization for Central New York. This editorial is drawn and edited from the “CEO Focus” email newsletter that the organization sent to members on April 28.