Dallas city manager Mary K. Suhm speaks to SMU students at President Turner’s Leadership Summit in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Monday. (Stuart Palley)
SMU President R. Gerald Turner and the office of Leadership and Community Involvement hosted the fall Leadership Summit yesterday, which featured Dallas City Manager Mary K. Suhm.
“Dallas is a unique place,” Turner said. “Most of the operational city of Dallas is under the City Manager.”
Dallas, like many cities in Texas, is run by a city manager, not the mayor, who reports to a board or commission. Turner notes that “the mayor of Dallas is not like the mayor of Chicago.” Suhm began her career with the city in 1978 and took on the position of City Manager in 2005, after serving as Interim City Manager since 2004.
“I will tell you it has been the most exciting career I could have ever asked for,” Suhm said. “The 30 years with the city have had many opportunities and have been lots of fun.”
Suhm has served as the manager for three Dallas branch libraries, manager of urban information Center at the Dallas Public Library, assistant to the mayor, assistant to the city manager, director of court services, executive assistant director of the Dallas Police Department and first assistant city manager.
“It’s never the same,” she said. “It doesn’t even stay the same hour to hour.”
Self-diagnosing herself with ADHD, Suhm says “the variety and exposure is what I like best.”
Suhm also says that she likes how the city government is structured. She notes that it is more like a business, with a board and employees.
“It’s about developing a census,” she said. “This more democratic process is a better and more solid process.”
She says that though the process sometimes gets messy, a lot of good comes from the collaboration.
“I think it’s the best thing for us,” she said.
Another difficulty, according to Suhm is the biyearly election of new board members.
“Last spring I got eight new bosses,” she said. “I had a major stomachache. It’s been an interesting dynamic for the last six months.”
In addition to board turnovers, Suhm has also dealt with the aftereffects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, where thousands of people were evacuated to Dallas.
“As a management exercise, the Katrina handling of the people was an outstanding experience.”
One thing Suhm says she does is “anticipate and avoid.” According to her, this is important especially since the City of Dallas employees 13,000 people and handles $2.6 billion in their operations.
“I spend a lot of time doing that,” she said. “Some people would call that planning.”
In addition to extensive planning, Suhm says that leaders must be careful not to limit themselves.
“Don’t let your current vision of your future limit you,” she said. “There’s a lot more out there.”
She notes that leaders must be able to get the job done and must always be asking ‘why?’
“There are many situations where I can’t say ‘I can’t do this,'” she said. “Don’t wait around for someone to give you something.”
Leaders also need determination and patience, according to Suhm. She says that leaders should enjoy what they do, noting that city managers “have to be passionate about it and love it” because they often have a short lifespan.
“You need courage,” she said. “You’ve got to take risks and realize you might fail. This job is about taking risks if you are going to take the city further.”
