New Lessons from New Orleans

Last month the Causeway team traveled south to learn a few things in New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the city has built a culture where people from all over are ready to roll up their sleeves and get involved. We got the chance to steal some wisdom from a few New Orleans organizations, including Propeller, 4.0 Schools, The Idea Village and Tulane University. The combination of bold insight and much needed sunshine got us thinking. Here are three lessons we brought home.

First, take a step back.
The best part of working at Causeway is that we constantly get to hear people’s hopes and dreams for our city, but we often find that people are so attached to their solution that they lose sight of the best way to actually solve the problem they’re addressing. During our visit with 4.0 Schools, we asked, “How do you get people to think more about the problem they’re solving, rather than their initial solution?” They simply said, “In a world of accelerators, we like to think of ourselves as a decelerator.” Civic problems are complex, and it takes time to understand all the moving parts. It’s our job to create an environment where people aren’t just worried about getting their idea off the ground–they’re worried about solving the problem well.

Ideas don’t move, people do.
An idea is meaningless unless the right people are there to turn it into action. So, who is that “right person”? Anyone could learn to be the right person, but there are some common traits. We know that the right person is a bold thinker, with lots of hustle, who’s aware of her own strengths and weaknesses, is committed to getting the job done, yet is coachable and open to feedback.

Chattanooga is ready.
Our first night in New Orleans, we went to PitchNOLA, a competition put on by social innovation incubator, Propellor. Ten eager entrepreneurs pitched their solutions to some of New Orleans’ biggest social and environmental issues. We heard everything from ideas about closing the achievement gap for at-risk students to cutting down on food waste. The ideas we heard were good, but they were no better than the ideas coming through our doors. Chattanooga has the right people, the right ideas, and even the right resources–we just need a point of connection to harbor the energy and help move it forward.

Now what? We are streamlining our programs to create a pipeline that strengthens ideas. Instead of having a collection of related, but segregated programs, each step will naturally flow into another opportunity for growth. We are working to create a space where Chattanooga’s problems are addressed with smart solutions that are based on research, consider context, and encourage collaboration. Just as we ask our entrepreneurs to be flexible, we are trying to keep a hand on the pulse of our programs. Stay tuned as we continue to adapt what Causeway does to meet the needs of people trying to address our community’s problems with bold solutions.