Strategic gains

Nearly one year ago, San Jose, Calif., City Manager Debra Figone created a new administrative position for the city: chief strategist. The city tapped Kim Walesh — a former economic development consultant and researcher for Stanford Research Institute — for the job, which is commonly found in the private sector. Walesh spoke with American City & County about her role in guiding San Jose’s development and why other cities may want to create similar positions in their governments.

Q: What is the role of a chief strategist?

A: “My role is to work with the city manager, her executive team, the department heads, the mayor and the council on three things: strategic planning, strategic partnerships and strategic innovations. So much of city or county government is dealing with the pressing crisis, or the politics of the moment or what’s happening on the next council agenda. But, cities and counties increasingly need to look outside their organizations and they need to look out over the long term. By having a chief strategist, the intention is to carve out some time and attention to make sure that the leaders and the organization are focused on the right things for the long term.”

Q: How common are strategists in local government?

A: “I don’t know of any other city or county government that has a chief strategist. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but I believe it’s very rare. Over the last 10 years, the role of chief strategy officer, what they call CSO, in the corporate sector has really evolved. So, they’re very common in the private sector as part of an executive team.”

Q: What is the difference between the role of CSOs in the public sector and the private sector?

A: “I think it’s a very similar role. The issues are obviously different. CSOs in the private sector are advisors to the CEO. They serve on the executive team. They assist with the long-term planning and positioning of the company. And, perhaps most importantly, they make sure that the organization aligns with the strategy that is set from the top. That can be sort of the black hole in local government, also. You can have a terrific strategy or long-term plan, but then you have to be really good on execution. So, one of my roles is to make sure that the decisions that the city council is making in our budgets and our actions in the department level are all, ideally, moving in the same direction toward the strategy and plans that we set. So, I think the role is very similar.”

Q: How is the San Jose business community responding to the new position?

A: “Our community and our business sector here loves the fact that the city has a chief strategist and is doing some pretty sophisticated thinking about the long term. For example, [in February] with our assistant planning director, I was on a panel with about 120 people who work in the corporate real estate industry in Silicon Valley, and we laid out some of these major forces of change that our city is trying to understand and harness to our advantage. It turns out some of these forces of change are really relevant to the corporate community also. So, we’re able to wrestle with these together in thinking about the big shifts that are happening.”

Q: What can other cities and counties learn from San Jose’s use of a chief strategist?

A: “It’s critically important in a time of change to understand what parts of the change are fundamental. By having a chief strategist or somebody who’s focused on the long term, it helps you to understand the big things you’re going to need to deal with that will either be opportunities or huge challenges. By having somebody who’s bringing in those big outside factors, you have half a chance of addressing them and using them to your advantage rather than being buffeted about by them.”

Q: What projects have you completed for the city?

A: “I went into city government mid-career. I joined the city six years ago to help them develop what was the first comprehensive economic development strategy. San Jose is the largest city in the [San Francisco] Bay area, it’s the 10th largest city in America, they’re really the urban center of Silicon Valley. But, to be honest, economic development just happened all around it, and it did not really have a concerted economic development strategy.

So, we put that in place, and I think what’s unique about it is that it’s really a comprehensive community development strategy. So, it focuses on some of the traditional things you would expect an economic development strategy to focus on, like the importance of small business or working with the driving industries, but also extends beyond that to include arts and culture, to include the evolution of our suburban landscape to becoming more urban, to include the airports. So, it’s quite a comprehensive view. [Walesh is currently updating the city’s general plan that plots San Jose’s course to 2040.]