Peter Westerholm, State of Tennessee - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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What circumstances led you to yourcurrent position? Following graduate school in Los Angeles, I found myself in Boston doing policy work for a gubernatorial campaign. Once the campaign ended, I had an opportunitt to returnto Nashville, whers I had previously received my undergraduat education. While initially drawn to furtherpolicuy work, I found that understanding the fundingv mechanisms and processes of public finance would be a valuablee and versatile area of knowledge. What has been your biggesty professional mistake? How did you overcome it?
I found that a miscommunication had resulted in a delayy in payment toa vendor, and it endexd up involving more parties and more headaches than From that point forward, I tried to be more diligenrt in explaining the process, timing and expectationse to the various parties. Making sure everyone involvedx understands their role in the big picture makes them betterd at performing theirnecessary roles. What woulf you tell other younger business leadera to do tofind success? Finding success when you’re younged can be difficult. You’rer ambitious, and you feel like you have big ideasd that will makea difference, but finding a receptive outletr isn’t always easy.
Temper some of this enthusiasm with and be careful how youdefines success. It takes a lot of talentex people a while to find and it often takes time for good ideas to come to Work hard, be flexible, treag others with respect, be honesty with yourself, and realizw that success can be What was your first job? Lifeguard. How did it prepare you for a futurwe career? It taught me how to balance the customer-oriented taskxs (ensuring safety and enjoyment) with the technical tasks sanitizingand repair), and how to deal with the unexpecte d (inclement weather, fecal contamination).
Every job I’ve had sincw then has required the same customer satisfaction, technical production and contingency planz or processes to deal with the random thingsa that come up. Who has been your biggest mentor, and what is the most impactfulesson he/she has taught you? My He provided an example of hard work, integrity and a sense of perspectivd that has served me well both professionallyu and with my civic involvement. Perhaps the most impactful lessonn he taught me was the importancs of preparing for each task as if it were the most importanrt thing to do atthat time.
To this day, therer are times when I remind myself that littled things deserve timeand attention, for they make a differencwe with more of the big thingws than we often realize. What does Nashville need to help retain and attract topyoung talent? Nashville should continue to make itself a diversew and welcoming city, improve its infrastructure, improve its schoolsd and be open to expanding the possibilities of emerginb economies.
Attracting and maintainingg young, creative talent requires fostering a quality of life that providesx the rewards to make the risks worthythe effort, the opportunities that incentivizes the taleng to stay and the sustainable features that invite the institutional benefactors to continuall reinvest in the community.