Keith McGlashan
I’m still nerdy enough that meeting Mr. Mayor is kind of a thrill for me.
I had that opportunity recently when Keith McGlashan, former Mayor of the City of Shoreline, was gracious enough to catch up over coffee.
We met at Starbucks, of course, because one of the stops in Keith's eventful career was as a Starbucks barista. Keith grew up in Tacoma and went to Lakes High School. He's been a veterinarian tech, a bartender, a sound & lighting engineer, a hair stylist, and eventually a co-founder James Alan Salon & Spawith Matthew Fairfax, a Shoreline institution currently celebrating 40 years and recognized multiple times by Washington CEO Magazine as a “Best Small Company to Work For."
Running a local business and interacting with the community inspired Keith to run for Shoreline City Council in 2005, where he served four terms over 16 years, including a four-year stint as mayor from 2010-2013. Now semi-retired (he’s still an active Windermere Real Estate broker), Keith’s next adventure is to hit the road in his new truck and 30-foot trailer.
Before he took off, I wanted to learn from someone who's seen a lot and experienced a lot. Here are a couple takeaways:
1) Prepare to Succeed: Keith said the best city council members always came prepared for monthly meetings. They read background materials. They asked productive questions. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” Benjamin Franklin once said. Early on, Keith saw that wisdom in action and never forgot it.
2) Finish the Job: One of the reasons Keith stayed on the city council for four terms was to see projects through that were critical to the future of Shoreline. One was the construction of Sound Transit light rail. Originally, plans called for tracks to be built along Aurora Ave North, a critical arterial and centerpiece of the city's efforts to create a vital, livable downtown. With Keith's involvement, the council pushed to have light rail built along I-5, allowing the revitalization of Shoreline's core to continue.
3) Survival of the Nimblest: It’s easy to look at Keith’s accomplishments and see him as exceptional. And he is. But he’s also pushed through many personal, professional, and financial challenges just like the rest of us. Through it all, Keith just kept going—learning new skills and being open to new opportunities to survive and make it in whatever way he could.
Keith’s smarts, perseverance, and big heart are an inspiration to me and many others, not just in Shoreline but every place he’s ever been, and all the places his truck and trailer are soon bound to go.
Keith, thank you for catching up and being part of my little reconnect roadshow.
#community #leadership #wisdom #coffee #thankyou