A corporation has a balance sheet. A community has a soul.

distinction — attributed to Don Welsh

A corporation has no soul; a destination does, because its leaders are entrusted with the brand of an entire community, which Welsh calls the highest trust in the world. It took him years inside hotels and casinos to see that the two must be led differently. A community's brand cannot be repositioned in a quarter or optimized against a P&L; it is inherited, held, and passed on. Every leader should know which of the two they have actually been handed.

For destination CEOs and civic leaders being pressed to run the organization more like a business. The distinction is not against discipline; it is against confusing a stewardship role with an ownership role.

stewardship, brand-of-place, community, governance