The Neighborhood Association President: Chief Visioneer

For almost ten years, I have served as the president of our neighborhood association, and recently, I was asked to share some thoughts about what that role entails. More specifically, I was told that I would have ten minutes to summarize what a neighborhood association president does and why it is important. I was also supposed to come up with some “perks” of the position. As I reflected upon the last ten years, I quickly realized that the job is far more than what the official job description describes. Indeed, the job description in our association bylaws is a single paragraph filled with weighty words which only barely scratch the surface. Therefore, I thought I would record some thoughts in a series of blog posts about the four major roles of the neighborhood association president.

The first of these is that of chief visioneer. Think of a visioneer as an engineer on a train, but for vision. In short, it is the president’s job to help the community know where it should go and what it should look like when it arrives there. They then help the neighborhood build and operate the systems necessary to realize that preferred reality. A closer examination of this role reveals five key phases:

Formulate an optimistic vision. Simply put, the neighborhood association president must steer the community to discover its preferred future. This vision should be inspiring. It should be bold and challenging. It should be about striving toward the future rather than returning to an idealized version of what used to be or even maintaining the current status quo. And it should be a team effort. That is, the community leader should involve the neighbors to hear what they think the neighborhood should look like and how they think that should be realized. In fact, this teamwork is key, because the people who help formulate the vision will take ownership of making it real.

Articulate the vision in a compelling way. Once the vision is formulated, the president must help the rest of the community see it, too. For this to happen, the president must be able to express the vision simply and clearly. It should be distilled to the point it can be shared in a single elevator ride: sixty seconds or less. Yet, the president should also be able to expand upon specific points depending on the audience. For instance, when addressing the chamber of commerce, the president should be able to explain how infrastructure, traffic counts, and population density affect business prospects, and when speaking with residents, they should be able to discuss how the development of diverse, quality housing stock options is key for a thriving neighborhood. And they should do exactly that as often as possible. In every case, people should feel compelled to respond. No doubt, some will hate it, but hopefully, far more will embrace it and resolve to help realize it.

Advance the vision. Once the vision is formulated, the president must take point in realizing it. They establish priorities, set pace, and do the things that need to be done. In short, the neighborhood association president must live with one foot in the current reality and the other firmly planted in the community they aim to build. This will result in tension and confusion as they may in one breath speak of the vision as if it is already fully realized and, in the very next breath, speak of all the things that must be done to accomplish it. In a very real way, they live in between two realities, always trying to pull the current one closer to the desired one.

Protect the vision. Along the way, there will be people and things that threaten to derail the vision. Sometimes, the intent is nefarious, but far more often, the problem is an insidious diffusion of focus. Someone suggests a good thing that the association could do, but doing it distracts from the things it must do. The president must therefore continously call the association back to clear and laser-like focus. They must constantly hold up the vision and ask, “Will this good thing advance us toward our vision or distract us from it?” To be clear, this is not the president’s job alone. In fact, the entire board must be trained to do this. However, the president must act as the first line of defense every time they draft a meeting agenda, select a guest speaker, or consider a zoning request.

Persevere. This is the absolute hardest part of being the president. They must keep beating the vision drum. Day in and day out. When things are easy, but even more so when things are difficult. When people are rallying to the cause, but even louder when they are the only voice in the wilderness. And they must keep beating that drum until the vision is realized, however long that may take.