City mottos can serve multiple purposes from being a quirky tagline or Chamber of Commerce catchphrase to creating or reinforcing a community’s “brand”.  It depends not only on how the motto is employed but how relevant its verbiage, the depth of its meaning and how strongly it resonates. When Inglewood became “The City of Champions” it wasn’t merely due to the words being inscribed on its street signs and City Hall stationery but because they were indelibly etched in hearts and minds.

When Inglewood dubbed itself “The City of Champions” the proclamation produced enormous civic pride and instilled a great deal of inspiration throughout the community. Few mottos have the power to touch the hearts and souls of those tied to a City as much as one that speaks directly to the human spirit. A human spirit that combines character with grit and determination to succeed at a championship level, regardless of the endeavor.

The Lakers would go on to win 5 more NBA championships before, together with the Kings, departing Inglewood for their new home in L.A.’s Staples Center. The lion’s share of concerts previously hosted at the Forum likewise left for Staples Center, as the building was acquired by a local church and fell into disrepair. Hollywood Park attendance fell precipitously as the “Sport of Kings” declined in general, until the property was finally sold to an investment group whose plans for it were stalled by the great recession. These and other economic conditions plunged Inglewood into near bankruptcy when Mayor James T. Butts assumed office in February 2011.

It was Butts’ first foray into politics however he brought with him decades of executive and management-level local government experience. Perhaps far more importantly, James T. Butts was a former Inglewood Deputy Police Chief before leaving and returning to Inglewood.  The notion of Inglewood being the City of Champions was not introduced to him during a new Mayor’s orientation, it was already part of his DNA. In fact, it was so firmly imprinted in his psyche that he immediately began collaborating with his City Council, City Manager, and other City stakeholders to formulate and execute a plan for the City’s renaissance. I know this because I myself had returned to Inglewood as City Manager after retiring from that post in 2006.  Life’s trajectory is filled with twists and turns, irony and unrevealed destinies. Both Jim Butts and I spent our formative professional years working as colleagues and friends in the Inglewood Police Department. We quite literally share the same municipal pedigree and are cut from the same ideological cloth. Now, as Mayor and City Manager, we huddled together in a Board room formulating a plan to return the wilting City to greatness.

I have concluded my executive and consulting roles in Inglewood now however Mayor Butts shared with me a recent promotional video about Inglewood that invokes powerful images of a phoenix rising. Theatrical effects aside, it includes the $100 million renovation of the Forum and the current construction of a $3 billion NFL stadium to serve as home to the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers and as the centerpiece of a nearly $5 billion mixed-use development.  Add to this the construction of an L.A. Philharmonic Youth music hall and the very real prospect of a new 18,000-seat NBA arena to host the Los Angeles Clippers and the stunning reality of the City’s reversal of fortunes is undeniable. Today, Inglewood is rapidly becoming a contender for the title of America’s sports and entertainment capital. It almost certainly has established a record for attracting an unprecedented amount of capital investment in a North American city of its size over such a short span of time. If a championship banner exists for such achievements (Forbes, are you listening?), then Inglewood deserves to be proudly flying it over the City’s entrance.

Dr. Charles Garfield, a former Olympian-turned-psychologist devoted 20 years to studying champion performers from Presidents and Nobel Prize recipients to Olympian Gold Medal winners.  What his research revealed, in significant part, is that champions possess the confidence, optimism, and imagination to formulate goals beyond what most consider within their reach. Invariably, they have a strong sense of self (personal “brand”). They also have the unique capacity to believe in their success and envision it with vivid detail.

Inglewood, CA, “The City of Champions”, is just such a case study and a remarkable testament to the value of municipal branding.