Business & Labor Survive Together. Bridging the Divide.
I’m new to local politics. Brand new.
But sometimes, it takes a non-partisan outsider to give another perspective on an old conflict.
I’ve learned that in San Jose politics, one of the biggest divides is between Labor and the Business Community. I strongly believe that this divide can be bridged because of all the priorities both communities share in common.
Full disclosure — I have received the endorsement of the Silicon Valley Biz PAC. As a small business owner myself, I’m proud to have the endorsement of my peers in the local small business community.
This week I started thinking deeper about our current divide. I had graciously been included and offered an application and also offered a live candidate interview with the South Bay Labor Council. They were inclusive to reach out, generous with their time during the interview and patient with my answers. I suspect it will be difficult to get SBLC’s endorsement because I am perceived to be the business candidate; nonetheless, I very much enjoyed the experience of exploring issues with their team and I thank each of the many members for considering me. Not getting the endorsement is ok because success started with the conversation itself and it is important in these days of polarization that we put a face, a personality, a person to the name of the organization.
And as I left the SBLC interview, I realized again a lesson I learned as a mediator and judge: How you start a conversation, the expectations you have for the result, will define and determine the outcome. If you start from an expectation of polarization — the conversations of us versus them — this expectation puts blinders on the conversation and can even limit problem identification let alone problem solving. You won’t see the problem; and a creative and possibly easy solution will be as evasive as gravity in outer space.
However, if you start from a point of agreement and ask, what are the objectives, what do we already agree upon, and what are the things we all agree are not working in the best interest of the public, then you can end up finding much more concurrence and potential partnerships and solutions that actually work.
When I put my mediator hat on after both my Labor interview and Business endorsement, I realized that both groups share three very important goals and concerns:
* How do we make this city a more attractive place for us to raise our families?
* How do we make San Jose more affordable?
* And in the spirit of Silicon Valley — How do we create more good-paying jobs, attract good workers to good jobs, and retain good workers in place?
Of course there are disagreements about how to achieve these goals. However — and this is the big point I want to pursue in future conversations — there are a lot more agreements about how to get this work done than first meets the eye.
So here’s my idea: let’s start more conversations — from where we agree. And let’s see what agenda derives from that expectation. I have a feeling it will be a whole lot more effective than the flawed policies that have utterly failed to make downtown the livable, growing, fantastic neighborhood it should be — a great place to work, to start a business, to raise your kids, and enjoy a downtown that should be tops in the state, not at the bottom.
I look forward to talking more with you about this as my campaign continues.
