Writings
Choices for Worcester, page 6
Mental Models
Civic spirit is driven by attitudes. Attitudes, in turn, are determined by a set of concepts, which shape thought and opinion. These concepts are our mental models. Though we are often unaware of them, they are intrinsic to our mental processes. Academics refer to these fundamental concepts as paradigms.
I suggest that moving Worcester from the Main Road to the High Road depends more on replacing Main Road mental models with High Road mental models than on any other factor. Progress depends not just on the intellectual grasp of High Road concepts by a few in influential positions but by general acceptance and voluntary support from many citizens.
Do not confuse leadership with positions in pecking order. There are workers who are more effective in influencing voluntary change than vice presidents. There are teachers who influence how people look at the world more than do some principals and superintendents.
I do not pretend to have a magic list of metal models for Worcester to achieve High Road status. I would be highly suspicious of anyone who made such a claim. Nevertheless, there are a few concepts, which if adopted and practiced, could launch the journey.
- All the city’s constituencies must cooperate to expand our economy so that we bring more money into the city, create living wage jobs and increase the tax base to undergird the transformation of Worcester. As I said earlier, there must be a love affair between business and the city. It begins with nourishing the companies we have and must lead to making Worcester the first choice location for business in New England – in spite of the fact we are in Massachusetts. To provide high quality government service, we must be able to pay for it through an expanding tax base; not higher tax rates.
- City employees perform for the city as they are treated by their managers who are proxies for the city. They deserve to be treated as first class citizens. In turn, citizens deserve high productivity and recognizable achievement from city departments. We must replace political interference and the civil service mentality with values that reward performance and pursue “what works best.” Human judgment should override rules when it results in a better outcome for the city. The Top/Down Model no longer works effectively in non-emergency situations. The city’s problems are too complex to lend themselves to solutions conceived and ordered by a few people with power. We must disburse power throughout the city organization in a gradual, orderly, and responsible manner.
- There is No Free Lunch. Every political favor to a special interest costs common interests. Constituent service by political officials should be evaluated on a cost benefit basis for all constituencies.
- Changing the direction of American cities is an enormous undertaking. It will be a generation’s work and require widespread citizen involvement. The magnitude of the task should not be underestimated nor the stamina needed to see it through. Human ingenuity and sweat will determine which cities achieve the High Road, not political promises to mooch help from higher levels of government which themselves are floundering. We should have a bias toward involving young people for they have the highest stake in the future.
Mental models, such as the ones I suggest, can never be imposed. Instead they form through awareness of frustrating conditions, discussion, experience, reflection, and finally a personal conviction about the idea. The process must lead to voluntary acceptance.
I believe, for instance, that this process about ideas – ideas about freedom, democracy, private property, and free markets – is what has undergirded the changes we have witnessed in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
There is no question in my mind that the majority of Worcester’s citizens would choose the High Road over the Low Road. The questions at hand are:
What mental models (the concepts that bind us together) will move the city to the High Road?
Should citizens wait for the Messiah to lead us or should each of us dig in and contribute what we can to start a High Road movement?