by Roy Exum
posted October 27, 2007
 Roy Exum |
So it came as a bigger surprise to me than it will to you that when I left his office yesterday, I carried the distinct impression Ron Littlefield may very well become one of the greatest leaders our town has ever had at City Hall.
Earlier this week I really popped him hard after he announced he would hire Marti Rutherford, ousted from the City Council, for three days so she could qualify for post employment medical benefits.
He said it was “the right thing to do” and, boy, I let him have it in two different opinion pieces because the whole tawdry deal is sickening to me. I believe that Marti has handled a bad situation in about as awful a fashion as anyone can imagine and I felt the mayor’s decision only heightened the matter.
So Ron sought me out – friends do that – and ours was not a public conversation, but instead an intimate one where we spent nearly an hour together as he described his motives, his reasoning, his hopes and even his despair.
The beauty of the whole thing is that it shows the mayor’s mettle in a sticky situation and I appreciate that in a special way this morning.
The unwritten rule they hope to teach in every business school is how to “Take Low and Go.”
This adage is what every great leader must learn before they’ll ever excel at any level, be they a field general, a CEO, a football coach or an elected official, because there will come a time when you have to get out of a mess with the fewest casualties, the smallest fallout, the least expense, the minimal exposure.
When the mayor’s hand was slapped this week after he declared his intentions to offer Marti an olive branch, he was trying, albeit desperately, to “take low and go.”
That he still intends to give Marti a job next week, to help a 61-year-old woman until she turns 62 three days later, is not only an act of compassion but also a key game-piece in a scenario that might well turn even uglier if the wrong things happen, as they are sometimes wont to do.
You see, running a city the size of Chattanooga is akin to running a big business with one major difference; most CEOs hire the people they like, ones they personally believe can get them where they hope to be, but in government the key players are not hired, they are elected by amazingly different groups of people.
The City Council is made up of nine people from, as we know, nine very different parts of town. These nine each have their own agendas and, when they work together for the common good, the whole city benefits in a good and hearty way.
Sometimes a member of the council, who the mayor didn’t chose for job, acts badly or misbehaves. Whether it is living in the wrong district or pouncing in the back of a police car to fistfight, the mayor is sometimes the one who has to clean up whatever mess is left because “the buck stops here.”
Suffice it to say he’s had his mind drawn away from far more pressing issues by the Rutherford fiasco and he’s tried to handle it in more of a delicate way than in a “backroom” manner.
He’s met with one councilperson after another and tried to bridge differences while worrying about the homeless, the recycling problems, somebody’s trash getting picked up in Brainerd, an errant stoplight in North Chattanooga and another fire at the old Hotel Patten.
In the midst of it all, a longtime friend like me starts flinging darts and our Friday meeting was one of “whoa” where I didn’t apologize and Ron didn’t expect that. What the mayor wanted instead was for me to see the whole picture, to grasp all the different tentacles of a slippery octopus, and it was a great experience.
It wasn’t lost on me that he knew full well he’d catch the devil for the three-day hire but that he was willing to throw his own self under the bus to thwart further troubles for the city.
This was far different than the “roast” he endured Thursday that raised almost $150,000 for a homeless effort. His decision to put Marti on the payroll, and to take a brutal whipping in the process, may be the most distasteful and unpleasant decision he has ever had to make, but that he’s willing to sacrifice himself in an effort to “take low and go” is, to me, a singular mark of greatness.
If you think it is fun being the leader, then consider how you would hurt when even your friends hurl rocks at a time when you are seeking out the best solution. Believe this, the mayor’s office can be a lonely place on some afternoons.
What I want you to know is that after I asked every tough question I could think of, and after he answered every one of them and more, I have a greater respect for Ron Littlefield right now than I do for any politician I have ever known.
And I am proud, real proud, that he’s my friend.
royexum@aol.com
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