Mountain Biking with The Waltons
SXSW in 2017.
I made my way to the stage. The presentation room in the Austin Conference Center was absolutely packed.
I looked to my left and my right and noticed friends from Columbus sitting next to cultural leaders from Chengdu, music commission leaders from Seattle, and creative economy researchers from Sydney.
All of these international perspectives were gathered together at SXSW, for the third year of a panel discussion I had dreamed up years prior, called “How To Build A Music City.”
After several years of pouring over research, gathering insights from a global community of city leaders, researchers, and foundation directors who were advancing the space, I began asking questions publicly, generating ideas, and testing initiatives to benefit the growth of the creative economy in Columbus, Ohio.
During this third presentation at SXSW, I knew that the City of Columbus was readying approval for funding of a new commission. I was prepared to share each step in the process it took to get there, and resonate with the audience, so that, maybe, someone out there would “get it” and replicate it in their part of the world.
Time slowed down. The audience felt like one person. We shared a unified perspective.
A line of curious people formed after the panel. Good questions. Electric energy. Then, a young guy came up. He handed me a business card and said, “Hi Joey, my name is Steuart. I’d like to go mountain biking in Arkansas with you.”
I laughed a little bit because the ask was so different from the other conversations. I looked up at him and told him “I’d love to.” In a moment, he nodded, shook my hand, and was gone.
I shuffled his business card into a deck of them I was holding. The next person in line came up, a city leader from Europe who was prepared to replicate the process I was so eager to activate…
4 days later, I was back in Columbus. I looked through the cards from SXSW and remembered the mountain biking request. “Steuart Walton.” Mountain biking. I sent an email to him. “Will introduce you to our team and can help you plan your trip. Bring your bike if you're in to riding...”
I was soon connected with Jared, a mountain biking pro and competitive cyclist who worked with the Walton Family Foundation to develop the mountain biking infrastructure for the region. He was taking me for my first ride in the Ozarks during his lunch break.
I explored Bentonville, curiously discussed various possibilities with all sorts of people there — from former Directors of the Region, an Investment Manager of the Walton Family, to a knight that had been brought in from Belgium to manage Crystal Bridges — and realized that perhaps the Walton Family has been incubating businesses and monitoring various aspects of the town because they are exploring a “city building” business.
Imagine being able to take the best part of your city and almost replicate the society in another part of the USA, on land that might be cheaper, and that architecture, infrastructure, small businesses, restaurants, town square look and feel — eventually attracts people like you and around you to it. From there, a new town slowly and surely builds a social culture that is positive, perhaps even commonplace, to the culture that you enjoy in your town today.
When I created a panel called “How To Build A Music City” I wasn’t trying to produce insight about how to build a literal, new city… even though mass artists have left New York City due to affordability issues, we’ve seen creative gentrification of artists into more affordable outskirts of downtown areas, and artists pass through different major downtown corridors transiently… or was I?
Steuart invited me back for a second mountain biking trip and this time the entire Walton family met up with Jared and I on the trails. It was a moment where Jim, Alice, Tom, Stuart, and two others skidded to a halt in front of me and just appeared like the Cullen family out of Twilight Saga. I was shy and a bit mesmerized to see them all together. They looked happy and united. I said, “Hi! So nice to meet you all!”
After a couple of moments, we immediately took to the more advanced trails. Doing my best to keep up with their speed, I rounded a sharp turn, lost control, and got thrown from my bike. I picked myself up, my hand was cut pretty bad, and I, unfortunately was going to have to bleed all over the handlebars if I ever wanted to get down from the trails.
As I was picking up the bike… It was Jim Walton who circled back to look for me. For about 10-15 minutes, we rode at a slower pace behind the rest of the family. His advice to me was thoughtful and empathetic.
He said, “Joey, you know… You don’t have to push so hard to be great at something the first time you try it. It’s all a process. You can allow yourself to get better at things day by day.” He went on to say, “It’s the same with any great company. You get better day by day.”
1) We’ll get better day by day.
I asked Jim how often he’s on the trails. He said that he mountain bikes 3-4 times, each week! When I thought about all of the energy this required, the sheer cardio of it, and then I thought about all of the things I fill with my day, I wondered how Jim had time for this. I just looked at him like, “3-4 times a week! Really?” Then, I quickly realized several new points of advice that Jim just gave to me without saying it:
2) When we know something is good for our life, we make time for it.
3) Wake up early and we’ll have more time to do what we love.
4) With positive habits, we’ll stop doing the things that sabotage our time and energy.
As an annual ritual, I’m planning to make a 2020 year end review to reflect on how I used my time and energy this year. And as an early reflection, I admit that I’ve had more free time this year than I’ve ever had before. Thinking about this moment with Jim Walton:
Did I practice incremental growth towards new skills and goals?
Did I make time to do what was really good for me?
Did I help others get back up when they were down?
Did I share positive truths with others?
I’ll follow up on these questions during my 2020 review!
