Get Out of your Swivel Chair and Lead

The biggest challenges local government professionals will face are those they didn’t anticipate. These trying times arise from the chaos that ensues when something goes precipitously wrong.

“Each one of your communities is a police shooting away from a riot. Each of your communities is an active shooter at school from shredding the fabric of everything you thought held your community together,” said Team Rubicon CEO and co-founder Jake Wood at the 2019 International City/County Management Association conference.

Wood is no stranger to chaos. He experienced it on the football field as a college player, then in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine and scout sniper. At a loss for what to do after he left the service, he contemplated getting his MBA.

Then an earthquake struck Haiti, and he marshalled fellow veterans to apply what they knew to the effort to serve. That was in 2010; Team Rubicon has grown from an initial group of eight people to more than 100,000 volunteers.