Memphis needs a story.
It’s a different kind of story.
Not one from history.
Not one about a famous Memphian.
Not one we all know.
Memphis needs a story that hasn’t been written yet – a story about the future.
A story about the future in which every Memphian can see themselves.
A story that everyone can repeat because it captures the vision they all share and sets out the destination every Memphian can contribute to meeting.
The Real Challenge
Memphis has much to celebrate: our role in the Civil Rights Movement; our barbecue and haute cuisine; the economic and cultural power of the Mississippi River; Elvis, B.B. King, Isaac, Otis, and hundreds more; Sun, Stax, Royal Studios, and Sam Phillips Recording Service; AutoZone and FedEx.
These are distinctive assets and milestones and they of course deserve repeating. They are part of the city’s identity.
The challenge facing Memphis is not a lack of stories. It is a lack of a shared story about where we are going.
That absence matters more than many realize.
Cities that we envy tend to have a broadly understood – and shared – narrative. Residents, business leaders, elected officials, nonprofits, universities, philanthropies, and neighborhood organizations may disagree on the details, but they agree on the destination.
In Nashville, the story has been growth. In Austin, it has been innovation. In Pittsburgh, it became reinvention. In Detroit, the story was about recovery and resurgence.
It’s About Leading, Not Reacting
What is Memphis’ story?
Some say logistics. Others say music. Others point to medical research, tourism, manufacturing, education, or neighborhood revitalization.
The problem is not that these answers are wrong, but none has emerged as a unifying vision embraced by every Memphian and one capable of inspiring collective action.
As a result, Memphis often finds itself reacting rather than leading. We chase projects rather than acting on a shared vision. We celebrate announcements rather than measuring outcomes. We focus on individual initiatives while struggling to connect them into an overriding purpose.
The consequences are visible. Population loss continues. Too many young professionals leave. Poverty remains stubbornly high. Educational outcomes lag. Economic growth underperforms peer cities.
The Milken Institute recently ranked the Memphis region #205 out of 206 metropolitan areas for economic vitality. That ranking is not just a statistic. It reflects deeper structural challenges that have accumulated over decades.
Perhaps most troubling is the sense that many Memphians no longer believe significant change is possible. That is what happens when a city lacks a compelling vision and narrative. People stop believing in the future.
And when people stop believing in the future, they begin investing elsewhere – their money, their energy, their careers, and sometimes, their lives.
The Right Question
The good news is that Memphis possesses some basics that could serve as a foundation for a new story for the future.
The city has remarkable assets – one of the world’s most important logistics networks, a globally recognized research hospital for catastrophic childhood diseases, housing affordable when compared to peer cities, America’s greatest river, nationally significant parks, strong neighborhoods filled with residents who care deeply about their community, and most importantly, it still has people who are passionate about Memphis and believe it can become better than it is today.
The challenge is not about assets. The challenge is about alignment.
The question is not whether Memphis has strengths. The question is whether those strengths can be organized around a common vision.
Stories Matter
For example, imagine if Memphis decided that its defining vision was to become America’s most inclusive city for economic opportunity. Imagine if every major investment and every program were evaluated according to whether it advanced this goal.
Imagine if economic development was not measured simply by the number of jobs created but by whether residents were actually moving into higher-paying careers. Imagine if neighborhood revitalization was not merely about buildings but about improving life outcomes. Imagine if success was measured by population growth because people were choosing Memphis rather than leaving it.
That would be a story. Not a slogan, not a marketing campaign. A story…about the future.
Stories matter because they allow people to understand where they fit. They allow residents to know they are participants in the city’s future, not mere observers.
Stories, Not Plans
Young people need to believe they can build their lives here. Business leaders need to see their investments are part of something larger. Neighborhood leaders need assurances that their communities matter. Philanthropy needs a framework that guides investments. Government needs a vision that transcends election cycles.
Without a shared story, every institution pursues its own agenda. With a shared story, individual efforts become part of a larger movement.
This is why Memphis needs more than strategic plans. The city has produced plenty of them over the years. Some have been quite good. Some generated worthwhile projects. But many sit on shelves because they fail to capture the imagination of the city they profess to serve – and they fail to tell a story about the future.
Stories capture imagination. Stories create emotional commitment. Stories help people see themselves as part of something bigger.
No Margin For Error
The most successful cities do not merely manage themselves. They inspire themselves.
Memphis has reached a moment when inspiration is urgently needed. The city has no margin for error.
Population losses’ effects are rippling through our community. Economic stagnation threatens competitiveness. Persistent poverty undermines quality of life and limits opportunity for thousands of families.
At the same time, there are emerging opportunities.
Advanced manufacturing is expanding across the South. Remote work is changing location decisions. Quality-of-life investments are becoming increasingly important in attracting talent.
Cities that position themselves effectively can gain momentum.
Cities that drift risk falling further behind.
Memphis cannot afford to drift.
Memphis’ Best Version
The next chapter cannot simply be the present extended into the future. It cannot be written automatically or based on conventional wisdom.
It will require intentional leadership. And that leadership must come from more than elected officials. Business leaders must participate. Universities must participate. Neighborhood organizations must participate. Young leaders must participate. Philanthropy must participate. Most importantly, ordinary residents must participate.
The story of Memphis’ future cannot be written by a small group of insiders or usual suspects.
It needs a broad coalition that reflects the diversity, aspirations, and creativity of the entire city. Perhaps the greatest opportunity now is to build a new civic culture – one that values collaboration over division and shared outcomes over organizational turf.
The story Memphis needs is not about becoming Nashville. It is not about becoming Austin. It is not about becoming anyone else.
The story about Memphis is about it becoming the best version of itself.
A city where opportunity is not determined by ZIP code. A city that attracts talent because people believe they can thrive here. A city where economic growth is widely shared. A city that embraces innovation while honoring its heritage. A city that believes its future can be greater than its past.
Not About The Past
History is one of Memphis’ greatest assets, but history alone cannot carry a city forward. The next generation deserves more than stories about what Memphis once was.
They deserve a story about what Memphis intends to become. Perhaps that is the most pressing work before us. Not building a project. Not launching a program. Not creating another strategic plan.
But writing a new story. A story about the future that an entire city repeats and every person wants to help bring it to life.
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We had some failures with More for Memphis, but I do believe we had some of the right people at the table. And we did some visioning and story telling. It would be interested to look back and pull some of that together as a place to start from.
I hear you, Shannon. As I’ve blogged in recent weeks, I’ve thought often about More for Memphis and the feeling that it could/should fill this role. I’ve asked people about the story that flows from it and I have yet to get the kind of story I think is needed in Memphis now. And I can’t find a compelling story that everyone can find a place in by reading the website. Unfortunately, there seems also to be opinions that MFM was a great grassroots project that when completed had its control taken by a special interest group. At any rate, perhaps there is a way that More for Memphis that can provide the over-arching, clear, emotionally connective story that is needed for Memphis. As I wrote, there is no margin for error.