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In this episode, Heather sits down to talk with Nana Appiah, Director of Development Services for Mesa, Arizona. Before his current position, Nana served as the City’s Planning Director. During his tenure with the City, he has helped the City effectively implement and restructure its planning and development functions for optimum performance and adopt various land-use policies to improve the built environment and economic development. His experience in city planning has taught him a lot about what leadership truly is. Take a listen.
Key Takeaways:
- Knowing your strengths is key as a leader.
- Connecting with people is the truest form of leadership.
- Always give grace where grace is due.
- Leadership is a choice.
- Let your people know that they are appreciated.
- Be aware of burnout you may be causing as a leader.
Nana Appiah is the Director of Development Services for the City of Mesa. Prior to his current position, Nana served as the City’s Planning Director for three. During his tenure with the City, he has helped the City effectively implement and restructure its planning and development functions for optimum performance and adopt various land-use policies to continue improving the built environment and economic development.
Nana has diverse educational and in-depth practical experiences in community and regional planning, organization change management, program evaluation, public participation strategies, and strategic planning and management. Nana holds a doctorate in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas, a master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He also completed the Executive Education Program in Public Leadership at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Before joining the City of Mesa, Nana served as the Development Services Manager for Adams County, Colorado. In that position, he led the transformation of the Development Service Division, streamlined the County’s development review processes, and guided the County’s various development code amendments and land use policy adjustments. Before his employment with Adams County, Nana worked as a city planner and planning supervisor for the City of Denton, Texas, where he completed complex land use development projects. In addition, he worked on the City’s comprehensive plan amendment in 2014 and downtown revitalization plans. Nana began his professional career in Polk County, Florida, where he was a key staff planner and guided the County’s adoption of various development code amendments and implementation of the development regulations and concurrency planning.
In addition to Nana’s practical experiences, he has presented at various academic conferences such as the Urban Affairs Association and the American Society for Public Administrators. He has published articles in the Public Administration Times on topics such as citizen participation in land-use decision-making, participatory leadership strategies, and complexity of management in the public sector.
Be Aware of Your Strengths
My number one strength is achiever. Because of this, I often am really results-driven and want to move on to the next project as soon as I finish one. Looking back, the times I wasn’t the best leader was because of this. I realize now that not everyone is an achiever like me. Many people want to sit and enjoy their wins. But I immediately want to move on. There are times that I look back on and wish I would have taken the time to celebrate all the hard work and time that was put into our work. My team especially did not always receive the praise they deserved. Now, the leader I am today, I try to always give praise and grace as much as I can.
When you deliberately celebrate those successes and those wins, it really helps your team to understand how much you appreciate them. - Nana Appiah #leadershipwithheart Click To Tweet
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