Bridge building—willpower stronger than steel
By Bill Settlemyer
Executive Publisher
Friday, March 11, was another milestone for construction of the new Cooper River bridge. Along with other representatives of the local media, I had the opportunity to join a group of state and local officials to witness the placing of the last section of concrete deck completing the 1,500 foot span between the two towers.
It was an impressive sight, both the view toward Charleston harbor and the dramatic perspective of the towers and cables holding up the span.
The performance of the bridge contractors has been equally impressive—they’re so good at what they do that they made a tremendously challenging project look easy. In a few short months, the bridge will open and become the signature component of the state and region’s transportation infrastructure and a symbol of progress for the region.
Stronger than steel
In reality, however, building the bridge was the easy part, as noted by Arthur Ravenel Jr. during the ceremony marking the completion of the span. The bridge is named after Ravenel, and despite the ongoing controversy about naming public projects in South Carolina after living current and former political office holders, hardly a better case can be made for the practice than this one.
Back in 1997, at the urging of Mount Pleasant Mayor Harry Hallman, Ravenel came out of retirement at age 68 to run for the state Senate, with the primary objective of getting funding for the bridge. His efforts and those of other area political leaders spurred the creation of the State Infrastructure Bank as the key funding mechanism for large road building projects around the state.
Getting the bank established and set up so it would function successfully required months of political arm-wrestling, cajoling and coalition-building. And even after the legislation passed, the battle was only half-won. Further conflict arose over the issue of whether the Charleston region would have to pay a local match, and at times it seemed like the whole exercise would end in futility.
While the contribution of other political leaders to the search for funding should be acknowledged, I think it’s fair to say that the combination of sheer willpower and political skill on Arthur Ravenel’s part was instrumental to success—his actions were graphic proof that in the end, willpower was stronger and more necessary to bridge building than even steel.
Adaptive leadership
A few years ago, Earl Walker, dean of The Citadel’s School of Business Administration, recommended that I read Leadership Without Easy Answers, a book by Harvard professor Ronald A. Heifetz.
The book is about “adaptive leadership,” the leadership that’s required to take other people where they don’t necessarily want to go, requiring them to change the way they think about a problem or about other people or the meaning of their own core values.
In other words, it’s “the hard stuff” of leadership, and in reality, the essence of true leadership. Merely helping people do what they’re already inclined to do is a lesser challenge and is often mistaken for true leadership. Heifetz’ book is not a how-to book, but it does offer readers a chance to deepen their insight about what it takes to lead.
Way off base
The bridge funding challenge was by no means the first opportunity for Arthur Ravenel to hone his skills as an adaptive leader. After the closing of the Navy base and shipyard were announced in 1994, area business and political leaders formed the BEST Committee to oversee the transition of the base to private and public non-military use. But the BEST Committee turned into the WORST Committee, practically disintegrating in the midst of intramural squabbling and political meddling. This was an ironic turn of events, given that BEST stood for “Building Economic Solutions Together.”
In response to the debacle, a new legislative framework for the Navel Complex Redevelopment Authority, or RDA, was created through the efforts of area legislators working with Gov. Beasley and his staff. It wasn’t long before Arthur Ravenel’s name was being floated as a possible chairman of the new group.
I dug into The Post and Courier’s archives to examine the sequence of events in more detail, and the paper’s quotes of Ravenel during this period are instructive. He said that,
“I believe the right person, not necessarily me, can go in there and get the group working happily together. And restore some humor to the process and enthusiasm and public confidence.”
Soon after, Gov. Beasley appointed Ravenel to chair the new seven-member authority, Ravenel quickly accepted and set the tone for his tenure: “We’ve got a terrible mess here, and calming everything down is going to be kind of difficult. But I know all the players—I know the antagonists and the protagonists, and I get on with all of them,” he said. “We intend to have a happy ship.”
That was adaptive leadership, because up to that point, those who wanted to fight had held the advantage over those who wanted to bring the group together. In the months that followed, doors began to open, agreements were made, and the RDA began racking up tangible successes.
That’s not to say there weren’t any conflicts after that—conflict goes with the territory in this kind of politically charged area of responsibility. But clearly, Arthur Ravenel was able to set the right tone at the right time to rescue a process that had become an embarrassment to the entire region and a barrier to our recovery from the base closing.
“Cousin Arthur” is just one of many area political leaders who made a difference in meeting the challenges posed by the bridge funding and the base closing. We in the business community need to recognize and encourage adaptive leadership on the part of the people we elect to political office, and we need to appreciate that there’s much we can learn from their successes on our behalf.
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