We get the feeling like we’ve been here before. In case you haven’t heard, Sacramento has, yet again, been named one of America’s Most Miserable Cities by Forbes. Below, 2012 Chair Sean O’Brien gives the writer his feedback.  

Hey there Kurt –

I’ve felt truly miserable a few times in my life. Once I ate some bad mussels for dinner. (the funny thing is – I was in San Francisco I swear)  Around 2 a.m. I awoke and had horrible food poisoning. I was sick for two days and it was miserable.  Once I was in a horrible car accident, they thought I had internal bleeding and things didn’t look good. My mother was crying at my bed side and there was nothing I could do. That was miserable.

It’s hard to argue against the fact that the above are two pretty solid examples of misery. I survived both and am looking pretty good. I believe Sacramento will enjoy the same fate.

I work in finance and I’m a numbers guy (my poor writing didn’t give it away?) so I get that you looked at crime, unemployment & property taxes, put them into a spreadsheet and determined your misery index. I understand that Sacramento is not without its problems but I’ve got to tell you that we are not a miserable city. Not even close. We worked hard during the boom, built Sacramento up and we now are facing challenges like everyone else in this world.

I admit the 2002 Western Conference Finals brought a few tears to my eyes (I’m a sensitive guy) but my beloved Kings have never made me feel miserable. You say we might not miss them? That’s crazy. I like direct you to the March 2011 SBNationarticle by Tom Ziller. To quote Ziller, “The Kings have sold out all 41 home games in 17 of their 26 seasons in the Sacramento. Think about that: The gym was packed in every game for an entire season 17 out of the 26 years the team has been in town. (All of this comes despite a .438 winning percentage since the Kings moved to Sacramento.)”

Sacramento is a town where people are taking action to foster positive change! I urge you to look at Metro EDGE, the Sacramento Metro Chamber, SARTA, SACTO, Valley Vision, and others! The list could go on and on. There are talented and engaged people in Sacramento who are working on making our future the best it can be. It will be a bright future and I know Slamson, Evans and Mayor KJ will agree.

Let’s stop looking through this, “miserable,” lens and look at the long term.  Pessimists are correct at any given point in history but never the long term. You’re a New Yorker and maybe you don’t understand the strength of a Californian. You might think it’s all sunshine, beaches, and ski slopes for us best coasters. I’m almost positive you’ve never been to Sacramento so let me tell you that we’re a pretty resilient bunch out here. I believe what you, and many others, call “miserable” is a walk in the park for a Sacramentan!

When you’re ready to call and apologize I will consider taking your call. But don’t call me this Thursday night – I’ll be with more than 100 Kings-loving young professionals who make up Metro EDGE – cheering for our Sacramento Kings!

SOB
Sean O’Brien (Gotta love my initials)
2012 Chair of Metro EDGE

The Regional Action Committee is the political arm of Metro EDGE.  The goal of the committee is to keep Metro EDGE members informed and engaged in current issues affecting the Sacramento region and more specifically the lives of young professionals and future business leaders. Read below to be kept in the know! 
 
On January 20, two public policy professors came together at the Metro Chamber to discuss the proposed “Checks and Balances Act of 2012.” Dr. Barbara O’Connor (Sacramento State University) and Professor Robert Benedetti (University of the Pacific) gave the crowd thier take on the act, which recommends a variety of changes to our city’s charter and governance structure, which is more than 100 years old.  

 The complete draft of the proposal can be found here. The highlights of the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 include:

• Would make the mayor the chief executive of the city, rather than the city manager
• Would have a City Council President preside over council meetings, rather than the mayor, which would free up the mayor’s time by allowing him to not have to manage the nitty gritty of the meetings
• The mayor would propose a budget that gets approved by the council
• Would create new processes for transparency and public input
• Would create an Independent Redistricting Commission
• The proposal would automatically sunset in 2020 if not re-approved by voters

It was made very clear that this proposal has changed quite significantly from the Strong Mayor initiative in 2008. The full report has a chart that compares them directly.

Professor Benedetti described how California has chosen an interesting governing system (for all across the state) where we have both city managers and mayors – a “dual executive system”. This model has plusses and minuses. Since the city manager is not elected, Prof. Benedetti argued that is important for the mayor to have more authority since that person is more accountable to the public.

A key emphasis that both professors made was that the role of the mayor should be as a figurehead that can create a regime to run the city not just through government but through partnerships with the private and nonprofit sectors too. They argued that the mayor should be the “chief negotiator” and his time should be available for those type of tasks rather than the day to day tasks of running city council meetings – instead he should focus on being the “aggregator for the city’s vision and use the bully pulpit to set the tone for the city pursue bigger ideas”.  Another key point that was discussed heavily is the public’s current distrust and distaste for government. Both professors felt that the changes in this proposal would be helpful in increasing transparency and accountability.

There were several questions by audience members about why we should reform the charter instead of making smaller tweaks along the way that don’t constitute “charter reform”. There were a variety of questions about the redistricting commission logistics. A few others asked about delaying reform until the next census, what’s the rush type of concerns. Both professors concluded that we cannot wait for a perfect proposal and this was a step in a good direction that we should take advantage of.

Supporters of the initiative would like to get it placed on the June 5, 2012 ballot. If approved by voters, it would take effect in November 2012.

Interested in learning more? Want to get involved? Conact the Chairs of the Regional Action Committee and they can let you know how to do just that. Contact: MacKenzie Woodard or Erika Bjork.

Get to know the amazing people who make up Metro EDGE with this 15 Minutes of FAME (Faces At Metro EDGE)! Enjoy!

Lisa Porta, PE
CH2M HILL
EMAIL LISA

Tell us about your current position?
I work at CH2M HILL, a global full-service engineering consulting and design firm. I joined the firm 4 years ago, starting at the headquarters in Denver, before moving to Sacramento in 2009. I am a water resources engineer, primarily working on water supply, water quality, and groundwater studies involving numerical models.

Prior to that?
This is my first job out of graduate school.

What is your educational background?
I obtained a BS in Biological Systems Engineering from Texas A&M University, and a MS in Environmental Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.

What is the best part of your job?
The challenging projects and the people I work with. I am surrounded by smart, passionate, dedicated, and fun people. The opportunities to work on really cool projects and the amazing network of young professionals we have across North America. Also, I feel like I am doing something to help make this world a better place.

What do you love about living here?
The quality of life and the diversity of activities with being so close to mountains, ocean, wine country, rivers, lakes, parks, and other fun cities. I also love the great food! And Sacramento has so much potential for us young professionals; I am happy to be part of such a bright and energetic group of people.

What is one thing that might surprise people about you?
I have a slight accent and people have a hard time guessing where it is from. So here is the secret: I grew up on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, and I have a German mother
and an Italian father. I moved to the US 10 years ago.

When you aren’t in the office where can we find you?
Supporting local businesses in downtown/midtown, at Pipeworks climbing gym, or exploring NorCal (the various wine countries, the Bay Area, the Sierras and ski resorts). I am also an active member of the Engineers Without Borders Sacramento Valley Professional Chapter.

MacKenzie Gilmore is the 2012 Chair of the Metro EDGE Regional Action Committee. She recently began a new job and shares below how her experience at last year’s Executive Insight event helped her focus on what she wanted in a job and in herself.  

At some point in every young professional’s life, there come various points when it’s time to make a change.  It could be that we’ve outgrown our position.  It could be that the environment is no longer conducive to our development.  It could be that we just need a change of pace.  The problem becomes determining just want to do next.  That is the position I was in toward the end of 2011.  I knew it was time for a change, I knew the parts of my job that I didn’t enjoy, and I has a sense of what I might want to do.  But I really couldn’t clearly articulate any of it, which isn’t exactly a strong answer in an interview as to why you want the job, nor is it a great explanation to your spouse why you should make a change.

That changed when I attended the Metro EDGE Executive Insight event last fall.  Among the executives I had the opportunity to speak with was Mike Heller.  He spoke, as did others, about the need to have passion for what you do each day, work hard but still find balance, and give back to your community.  But then it happened.  Someone at my table asked Mike about how he chose who he wanted to partner and work with on projects.  And he said he wanted to work with savvy, sophisticated partners.  He didn’t want to have to explain the basics of his business, defend his hard work if things didn’t go according to plan, or justify his decision making.  That was it – the thing that was missing in my current role: the opportunity to work with the savvy, sophisticated side of my business.  Suddenly I could clearly explain to my husband why I wanted to shake things up for our family, articulate in an interview why I wanted to make a change, and clarify in my own mind what had been bothering me in my job. 

And it worked.  I started my new job last month and eagerly look forward to the next Executive Insight event as an opportunity continue to learn and grow along with other young professionals in Sacramento.

Elise Crispen, who by day works for Sacramento’s own 3fold Communications, is member of Metro EDGE’s events and networking committee. She recently wrote a blog for 3fold about her experience as a young professional and they’re letting us “borrow” it for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Having recently embarked on my professional career, I must say work life is very little of what I expected – in a positive way. Landing the job I had always envisioned was exhilarating, but I have to say my preconceived expectations of the cut-throat business world would keep me awake at night.

I soon realized though, the dog-eat-dog environment I was expected to reluctantly assimilate into is actually a lifestyle choice and not the only way to make a successful living. Don’t get me wrong, as a former NCAA Division I athlete, competitive spirit runs through my veins and “better, faster, stronger” is always the mantra, but an intense corporate culture is not a universal standard. It is possible to feed off the energy of your co-workers, to support and be supported, and to foster the healthy optimism essential to happiness and productivity. Phew! Huge relief!

Aristotle had it right when he said “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know” and this became apparent rather quickly. There is a confidence and momentum that comes from mastering college — academically, socially and athletically — and this energy and drive you feel as a college student ready to graduate and take the world by storm, can be hard to uphold in the next stage of professional life.

Our imaginations and passions to succeed have been cultivated for years by inspiring professors, other ambitious students and supportive parents who themselves make climbing the corporate ladder look easy (if this doesn’t sound like you in your college years, it’s okay, it’s a millennial thing).

But the reality is the workforce, or “real world,” is a different breed of motivation, knowledge and experience. You realize you’ve barely scratched the surface of what it means to be well-informed and ultimately your academic experience and accomplishments are overshadowed by the portfolios and brain-trusts of your professional co-workers. The reality of being a rookie in the workforce is a very humbling experience.

But, amongst feeling new and inferior, don’t let yourself fade into the background. Use this opportunity to remember as a young professional, we are far from unnecessary or useless in the work place. We are self-expressive and very well-connected (most likely due to growing alongside our social media culture). We believe there must be a solution to every challenge and with some direction we will self-start and use our resources to find the answer. We are eager to learn and not afraid to ask questions when we don’t understand. We are technologically savvy and justifiably skeptical. We bring a fresh perspective, a clean slate and an enthusiastic attitude — we get after it. We may not know it all, but we catch on quickly. Besides, we live in a digital world where nearly every answer can be found at a touch, swipe or click.

Each young professional’s experience varies, but the thing we can all agree upon is the future of professionalism currently lies in the hands of myself and millions of others like me. Keep an eye out for our growing presence and influence because, ready or not, we are here.

At Metro EDGE, we know true mentors are hard to come by these days and that our members are eager to learn what it takes to be successful. Words of Wisdom is a new series featuring some of Sacramento’s brightest CEOs, executives and leaders sharing their advice with the region’s young professionals. Flip your brain over to sponge mode and soak this up.

James L. Leet
Attorney
Boutin Jones Inc.
jleet@boutinjones.com

What are some things you wish you’d known as you embarked on your career:

1. Understanding  practical importance to my work.
2. Understanding my role in the process of my work.
3. Helping one become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Did you have a mentor? If so, what was the most important piece of advice they gave you?

No.

How did/do you handle work/life balance?

I did not do well balancing.  Work First, Life Second.

Do you have any suggestions of books, articles, websites, etc. that might help a young professional?

Read often in your area of expertise, follow trends and watch how the various parts seem to relate to each other.  I had one valuable comment from an older lawyer:  Read, Read, Read.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell the 40 and under business professionals in our region?

It is important to remain resilient and relentless in pursuing your goals.  It is equally important to maintain your values and search for your passion.  Remember to reinvest in the community that you work.

2012 is off to a great start!  We hope you enjoyed yourself at our first In The Mix of the New Year.  With over 120+ YP’s in attendance we packed the house and sold out our first mixer of 2012!  A big thank you to The Porch Restaurant and Bar for hosting our group and providing the tasty southern treats.  Were you able to talk to the life coach about setting (and accomplishing) goals for the upcoming year?  Did you pick up some skin care and healthy eating tips too?  Did we convince you why Metro EDGE is the best place for Young Professionals to be?  We hope so!  From all of us on the Events & Networking Committee…  May 2012 be your most prosperous, successful, and empowering year yet!

Ryan Porter, 2012 Metro EDGE Vice Chair, participated in the Sacramento Metro Chamber Study Mission in New Orleans last fall. Here he shares some of the key ideas and lessons he left with and how they can apply to the future of Sacramento.

In each of the past 13 years, the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce has sent some of the best and brightest our region has to offer on an annual Study Mission to a different US city in search of an answer to one specific question: “What are the keys to a successful city?” This year, I was lucky enough to join 75 regional business and civic leaders for a four-day trip to New Orleans, Louisiana to determine what The Big Easy could teach us. Over the course of the trip I found that New Orleans had focused on a few specific themes when rebuilding their city: public safety, culture and identity. Sacramento will need to acknowledge and address these issues in order for our region to develop into the national destination we all envision it becoming.

For non-residents like myself, it is hard to think of New Orleans without immediately thinking about the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Even six years later, our group could still see the reeling effects from the disaster during our own lower 9th ward bus tour. Residents admit that much has been done, but much more rebuilding still lies ahead. Most apparently however, residents seemed to agree that Katrina was a manmade disaster, and that the destruction was avoidable. Choices, decisions and prioritizations led to the failing levies, which in turn caused the vast majority of damage. It is a sad fact, but an encouraging one at the same time since it would imply that the opposite could also be true. Our pro-active choices and decisions could prevent similar incidents. New Orleans’ residents now take a more active ownership role in the policy discussions which will shape their city going forward. The mantra of the New Orleans Civic leaders was that human will, not Katrina, was the catalyst for change. Their advice for Sacramento was simple: Don’t wait until it is too late.

Post Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers rated Sacramento to have the highest exposure for flood devastation in the nation. How can our great city expect to thrive as a national destination if we can’t even ensure the safety of our own residents? Civic leaders, elected officials and the residents of Sacramento should all heed the advice of New Orleans. We need to band together, get informed and address these regional concerns while they are still under our control.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the second and third themes that come to mind when I think of New Orleans are Culture and Identity. More specifically New Orleans is known for Mardi Gras, and I expect nothing less from a city nicknamed “The Big Easy”. Love it or hate it, everyone seems to have an opinion about this annual party full of debauchery and the city that hosts it. New Orleans has done what other cities fear to do: embrace its identity. Mardi Gras has been engrained into the culture of all New Orleans’ residents, and instead of shunning the negative connotations associated with it, the city has turned it into a two billion dollar-a-year revenue generator. They play to their strengths and have developed a strong sense of civic identity over the course of the city’s illustrious history. If you ask New Orleans’ residents what is so great about their city, they will give you a laundry list of reasons and qualities, but at the end of the day they will sum it up by saying their town just has “it”.

I’m going to let everyone in on a little secret, Sacramento has it too. No, not the same culture and identity that New Orleans or any other city has, but our very own unique brand. We need to embrace our identity. We have some of the best weather and freshest food this nation has to offer. We have a strong political landscape. We have a magnificent community and family atmosphere. However, we seem to lack the civic pride and confidence needed to show just how wonderful our region is. We need to learn from New Orleans and take it upon ourselves to answer one simple question: “What does Sacramento mean to me?” Once we answer that, it’s up to us to shout from a mountain top about it.

Because if we believe it, and if we live it, then everyone else just might want it.

At Metro EDGE, we know true mentors are hard to come by these days and that our members are eager to learn what it takes to be successful. Words of Wisdom is a new series featuring some of Sacramento’s brightest CEOs, executives and leaders sharing their advice with the region’s young professionals. Flip your brain over to sponge mode and soak this up.

Roger Neillo
CEO, Sacramento Metro Chamber
RNiello@metrochamber.org 

What are some things you wish you’d known as you embarked on your career:

1.  In hiring, try to find people better than you.

2.  As a manager the best way to implement an idea is to identify a champion and get him/her to believe your idea is theirs.

3.  The most effective debater is one who understands the opposing position as well as the opposition.

Did you have a mentor? If so, what was the most important piece of advice they gave you?

1. In business, my Father.  Particularly valuable advice was: 1) Work harder than anyone else.  2) Treat people fairly.  You may be able to take advantage of someone, but probably only one time and at the expense of all future business.  3)  Assume is spelled ass u & me: if you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.

2. In politics, Dave Cox.  He always had lots of good advice, but probably the best was that you just have to show up!

How did/do you handle work/life balance?

I try not to bring work frustrations home and I find exercise to be a good diversion from pressures.

Do you have any suggestions of books, articles, websites, etc. that might help a young professional?

Biographies of great people give valuable insights into success.  I also read the Wall Street Journal and The Sacramento Bee, particularly the editorials so that I regularly get opinions from the right and the left.  Two great periodicals are The Economist and The Harvard Business Review.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell the 40 and under business professionals in our region?

You will likely have more than one career so always keep your options open and your eyes open for new opportunities.

Get to know the amazing people who make up Metro EDGE with this 15 Minutes of FAME (Faces At Metro EDGE)! Enjoy!

 Angie Pappas
California Restaurant Association
EMAIL ANGIE

Tell us about your current position.  For the past three years, I’ve worked in marketing and communications for the California Restaurant Association. 

Prior to that? I worked at The Sacramento Bee where I was an editor/designer.  

What is your educational background? I studied communications at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington.

What is the best part of your job? Working with some of the funniest, most talented, creative people I have ever known. (Hoping they don’t see this and have their egos inflated even more.) I also  get to meet, interview and collaborate with incredibly interesting and passionate restaurateurs and entrepreneurs daily, which is endlessly fascinating.What do you love about living here? There’s so much to love about Sacramento, but being able to live, work, shop, eat and drink on the grid feels like a real luxury. There are bigger cities, but there’s no place like Midtown.

What is one thing that might surprise people about you? I dabble in athleticism. I’m not very good at anything, but recently stuck with activities that really speak to me. One is cycling – I try to get on the American River Bike Trail whenever I can, and rode my first century this year. And yoga is a must. 

When you aren’t in the office where can we find you? Probably out supporting the restaurant industry in a personal capacity. I’ve never met a patio I didn’t like – and only here can you enjoy dining al fresco year-round.