Mayor Daniel Rickenmann is one of 40 mayors who have been selected to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative’s intensive leadership and management program.
Rickenmann joins a class of mayors who will attend in-person and virtual classes taught by faculty from Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School and featuring experts from across the Bloomberg Philanthropies network.
Participants have identified top policy priorities including equitable growth, jobs and economic development, and poverty reduction; affordable housing and homelessness; transportation and infrastructure; and climate, resiliency, and resource management. The mayors expect to grow in their capabilities to lead change and advance equity, innovate to tackle complex problems, build city-wide collaboration, and improve community engagement to inspire action and better serve residents.
The in-person portion of the program began July 18. Rickenmann attended at no cost to the city. Based on teaching cases developed at Harvard, sessions will focus on research-backed management and leadership practices and cover a range of topics from developing new policy and driving government performance to leading civic and resident engagement.
“We are honored that the City of Columbia was selected to participate in such an incredible opportunity to grow and develop our leadership skills. This is an exciting chance for our city to collaborate with other leaders from across the nation and to bring innovative solutions to the problems we are facing in Columbia,” Rickenmann said.
He will bring the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative’s expertise to the city via learning from some of Harvard University’s top educators, coaching from experts, a network of peers, and technical assistance. The program provides an opportunity to share approaches and learn from fellow mayors about the ideas that are already helping to enhance the quality of life in cities around the world. It focuses on teaching leadership, organizational, and problem-solving capabilities, rather than specific policy recommendations, and it is non-partisan.
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative—the flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University—is a collaboration between Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and Bloomberg Philanthropies to equip mayors and senior city officials to tackle complex challenges in their cities and improve the quality of life of their residents. Launched in 2017, the Initiative has worked with 428 mayors and 1,400 senior city officials in 494 cities worldwide. The Initiative has also advanced research and developed new curriculum and teaching tools to help city leaders solve real-world problems.