Pen and Pencil Club 2015 Philadelphia News Awards

Lessons on building an industry-specific community

Communities begin organically. They’re grown and strengthened intentionally. Starting them is easy. Making them last is hard.

I’ve had the privilege of being near to many new and established communities of various stripes — geographic, topical, social, professional and more. Community is any intentional grouping of people who share some commonality.

One community I’ve approached with great intentionality has been one of Philadelphia journalism. I intersect it in several ways, as a young journalist, as a small publisher and, as of last week, for the fourth year as a board member of the Pen and Pencil Club, one of the country’s oldest private press clubs and de facto reporter hangout.

From that experience, here are a few lessons I’ve learned about building a community:

  • Be open to new ideas: I joined the board with plenty of ideas, some more welcome than others. For instance, I was excited about establishing a daytime coworking community to supplement the nighttime drinking vibe. The idea met too much resistance. Pick your battles.
  • Balance new and old thinking: You can only bring in new ideas if you’re equally supportive of existing traditions. Respect what has worked while gently pushing what could improve.
  • Use tradition as a tool: One of my wins was establishing an annual awards program to engage members and bring everyone together at year-end. Setting this as a yearly tradition made it easier to rally participation.
  • Storytelling connects past and future: I obsessed over our history and how it could shape our future. That included rebranding the website, sharing our narrative, and engaging more online, independent, and non-traditional news providers. I wanted to do more—like modernizing the newsletter—but sometimes you don’t get to everything.
  • Plan for the handoff: I knew I wouldn’t be on the board forever, so I focused on creating repeatable processes and systems for the next team. Communities thrive when they’re built to last beyond any one leader.

Communities grow with intention, evolve with balance, and endure with thoughtful planning. These lessons from Philadelphia journalism have shaped how I approach every community I touch.

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