Tampa Riverwalk – Collaboration at it’s Finest

Today is a landmark day for not just Bob Buckhorn, Tampa’s greatest mayor. But it’s a great day for Pam Iorio, Dick Greco, Sandy Freedman and Bob Martinez who were also honored to share the credit and the applause during this evening’s ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the Tampa Riverwalk.

This monumental task took the efforts of 6 mayors, starting with William Poe, who drove in the first nail and finished this evening by Bob Buckhorn driving in the final nail. While I’m biased, and feel that Mayor Buckhorn is our best Mayor ever, to give him the full credit for this accomplishment is something that should not happen, nor would he feel comfortable taking credit. He was simply the Mayor who happened to be in office as the information age died and the collaboration age was born. And because of this, he was able to negotiate, and partner with multiple organizations and people to make it happen. Something that could never have occurred during the information age.

Even Bob is influenced by this new collaboration age whether he is aware of it or not. I’ve never once heard him speak about this accomplishment using the word “I”. He always includes the 5 mayors before him in his speeches. Not because he has to, but because it’s who he is. He’s a collaborative Mayor in the Collaboration Age.

Whether it’s politics, medicine, entrepreneurism, or education, this is the time to look at old projects, old goals, old dreams that couldn’t happen in the past and ask yourself one important question, “Who do I need to meet in order to make this goal a reality.” Even if it couldn’t happen in the past, what this Riverwalk has taught us, is that with persistence and timing, anything is possible. Now is the time to collaborate with the right people to make your goals a reality.