10/30/2017

Hello MTASers:

It’s Monday again, and time for another Mustard.

First, congratulations to PJ on the successful end to her UT career. Her last day on the job is tomorrow and we wish her well in her retirement plans! Don’t forget that there is a retirement reception for PJ on Tuesday from 3:00 – 5:00 at the UT Gardens.

Last week I attended the International City/County Management Association’s annual conference in Texas. The keynote speakers where phenomenal (as usual) and I wanted to share a few notes I took from the sessions I attended.
· Feedback is a gift, growth is optional.
· Embrace your greatest critics because they will give you the gift of honest feedback.
· Hire for attitude, train for success.
· The job of a leader is to invite others to discover themselves.
· Become comfortable with being uncomfortable (try things a different way).
· By the third grade, most girls opt out of leadership roles. Girls who are leaders are called bossy – are boys ever called bossy?
· Relationships are the currency of the future.
· 60% of the workforce in the nation are Millennials.
· By empowering employees to find a solution, a city improved a process that took eight months to complete down to four to six weeks.
· If you keep getting the same answers, ask a different set of questions.
· The formula to build trust is: ethical tone and behavior + transparency + engagement + performance measurement and accountability.
· We have to devolve power to come together and not tear ourselves and our cities apart. We need to feel safe at home (where we live – cities).
· The power of a story is to connect emotionally to facts. Facts and a story = outcomes.
· During the celebration portion on Wednesday, about ¼ of the 40 year service award recipients on stage were from Tennessee. Congratulations to our customers Roger Campbell, Jay Johnson, Bill Sorah and Mark Watson.

Closer to home, if you have plans to attend the UT Homecoming game this weekend, please come by the IPS Tailgate event at Circle Park. If you think this is a real possibility, please let me know and I’ll make sure you have a nametag preprinted.

I hope everyone was able to take advantage of the MTAS jacket and vest opportunity last week. A big thanks goes to Frances for taking our orders and working through the many kinks that developed along the way. Hopefully by next Monday I’ll know about a delivery date, so stay tuned.

Lastly, we are in the final days of the Campus Chest campaign (ends November 3). Another big thanks goes to Armintha for spearheading our efforts on this again this year. We still are a few shy of 100% participation. If you haven’t yet, would you please consider making a donation? There are so many worthy charities out there, and there is so much need.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I hope you have a wonderful week; and that you experience more treats than tricks on Halloween.

Sincerely,
Margaret