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Welcome back to The Bend!
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The Bend follows a simple rhythm each week. The Eddy Line opens with a one-line thought or
observation, something short enough to remember but worth thinking
about. What the Current Pulled Toward dives a
little deeper into where the previous week’s energy went, whether that’s
a project, a partnership, or a personal lesson learned. Signal Fire highlights a person, place, or initiative
that deserves some attention. From the
Field, shares a small anecdote about the broader outdoor
recreation economy from Oxbow’s non-profit arm, the VA
MTNS Outdoor Collective. And One Thought Worth
Sitting With closes things out with a brief reflection or quote
that will hopefully help guide you through whatever you may be dealing
with.
It’s part journal, part field note, and hopefully
something that makes you pause for a moment before diving back into the
current.
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“Loyalty is easy when things are good. It gets
complicated when they’re not.”
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What the Current Pulled Toward
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This week the current pulled toward
loyalty.
I recently watched an executive stand firmly
behind their team in the face of some not-so-great behavior. On the
surface, it looked like what you’d want in a leader, someone willing to
have their people’s back. And to be fair,
that’s an important trait in a good leader.
People want to know their leader will support them and that
they won’t be left out on an island when things get difficult. Trust me,
I’ve been there. Loyalty builds trust and trust builds teams.
But it also raised a harder question:
when does loyalty go too far?
Because there’s a line and it’s not always obvious
where it is. Supporting your people is one thing. Ignoring behavior that
chips away at culture, accountability, or trust is something else
entirely.
At some point, loyalty
starts to conflict with integrity and when that
happens, the choice the leader makes is even more important.
Turning a blind eye doesn’t protect your team.
Rather, it reshapes it and signals what’s acceptable and what isn’t.
Over time, that catches up with you.
Most of the time, these situations aren’t clear-cut.
Leadership is balancing things we don’t always see. But that doesn’t
make the tension any less real or the stakes any less high. The best leaders don’t have to make the choice between
loyalty and accountability. They understand that real loyalty includes holding people to
a standard. This certainly doesn’t mean doing it publicly or in some
kind of performative way, but it has to be consistent.
Protecting someone from consequences isn’t the same as
supporting them. And if you’re not careful,
loyalty becomes something it was never meant to be.
- Mike.
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The folks with Danville Parks and
Recreation been steadily building something
along the river. They’re building a connected system and not just a
single park.
Their brand new public
space, Riverfront Park, is part of a broader push that ties into the
Riverwalk Trail and other investments along the Dan River corridor.
What’s interesting to watch is how it’s coming
together.
From the outside looking in,
pieces that used to stand alone - trails, parks, access points - are
starting to connect. Physically, yes. But also in how the city is
thinking about them. Recreation, tourism, downtown… it’s all starting to
overlap instead of operating in silos.
It’s not perfect. Projects take time. There are always
delays, adjustments, and tradeoffs. Riverfront Park itself took three
years to complete. But if you step back, you
can see the direction.
I’ve also had
the chance to start working with them as a client, helping explore the
creation of a charitable foundation to support the work and carry some
of that momentum forward.
To learn more about Danville Parks and
Recreation, click
here.
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Outdoor gear manufacturing is scant in our region but
it doesn’t have to be. We have all the makings for a pretty desirable
place.
Companies are looking for
places with:
- Access to outdoor
resources
- Lower overhead
- A workforce that actually uses what they make
That creates an opening for this part of the
state.
More than just bringing people here
to recreate. We have an opportunity to give them a reason to stay and
build something.
If that continues to
take hold, the outdoor economy shifts from seasonal to something much
more steady.
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One Thought Worth Sitting With
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This week’s theme: Loyalty.
“In matters of style, swim with the
current;
in matters of principle, stand like a rock
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-Thomas Jefferson
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