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Jorrit De Jong

“Cities are where many of our problems are, but also where many new solutions are created. Cities are indeed laboratories of innovation. ... We all know that there is no abundance of financial resources in cities and therefore most mayors are not innovators by choice, they are innovators by necessity.”

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Sly James

“There’s this tradition of mayors working with each other. That tradition just keeps rolling on. We’ve learned that the easiest way for us to succeed is to share ideas. ... The interesting thing is I don’t remember anybody ever telling me no because ‘you’re a Democrat and I’m a Republican.’ I don’t even remember ever asking if anybody was a Democrat or a Republican, because nobody really cares. At the mayor’s level, the snow doesn’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, Independent, or fascist. It just needs to get picked up or removed.”

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Sharon Weston Broome

“If you see my door open, that’s an invitation for you to come in. It’s very important as a mayor that I cast a vision. I spend time going to our department leader meetings to make sure that they understand the vision that I have for the city, and that they are a very integral part of that. So, having that open line of communication is vitally important.”

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Peter Buttigieg

“Leadership is about making yourself vulnerable. And that doesn’t just mean talking about your feelings. One of the ways that you can make yourself vulnerable as a leader is to commit to a goal that can be very obviously and very publicly missed.”