“The possibility of highly visible failure has an exceptional power to propel us to want to succeed, and that power can be harnessed to motivate a team or even a community to do something difficult.”
Buttigieg does the unexpected by revitalizing the economic industry in his hometown after being listed as a dying city. His passion for making South Bend, Indiana into a prosperous town as it was in its glory days comes from this realization. The town’s industry regarded as dead with a failing economy pushes Buttigieg and his administration to push for major changes. Thus, the assertion alludes to the incessant quest yet challenging nature of bringing back life to a town seen as a ‘dead’.
“But for others, work can only be meaningful if its fundamental purpose is in things that would matter even if no one would pay you to care about them.”
Buttigieg proves that his pursuit of saving South Bend from economic downfall and sanctioning fecund policies went the extra mile. In that, he made changes that were beyond the financial sphere and delved more into social policies. Such as cleaning the police department to ensure racial biases are not condoned in the department. Moreover, renaming a street in honor of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and opposing a legislation that allowed the discrimination of the LGBTQ communities. He even served in Afghanistan as a lieutenant in the Navy while still a sitting mayor.
“As I raised the glass and said, "South Bend is back," the roar of the crowd at once reflected, certified, and caused it to be so.”
In the book, Buttigieg highlights his process in reviving South Bend, Indiana from housing, infrastructure, and urban development to constructing a technology hub. The statement attests to the work that was put in bringing back the South Bend everyone knew 50 years ago but now with a modern touch. Though he faced challenges in the journey, Buttigieg managed to reclaim houses and ratify new policies in civil services. Furthermore, introducing the tradition of adaptability in the new technological world as the lack of it was the cause of the initial downfall.
