I have a strange habit of driving home from work a different way every night. I’m not much of a Robert Frost fan, but somehow I always seem to take the road less traveled. When you live in a city, this habit can occasionally be dangerous. (If they offer to sell you drugs, just buy them. Even drug dealers don’t shoot their customers.)One such night, I got stuck in the worst traffic mess you’ve ever seen as I was trying to cross the I-29 Bridge over the Missouri River. The bridge is very old. I’m not sure exactly how old it is, but they are in the process of building a beautiful new bridge right next to the old one. The new bridge looks awesome with its huge columns and it is obviously going to be much bigger and stronger even though I never saw any problem with the old one. The new bridge will have more lanes of traffic than the old one even though I never got stuck in a traffic jam on the old one until they started building the new one. As I sat there moving 5 mph in a 55 mph zone, I wondered who was responsible for these bridges being built and after a little research, I was not only informed, but motivated.

Charles Esmond Kearney settled in what is now Kansas City in 1852 and soon became a very successful outfitter and grocer. In those days, wagon trains bound for the west would come through Kansas City, Leavenworth or St. Joseph. Although business was booming and Kearney was very successful, he could see that the lack of railroad connections would eventually damage his business. Kearney, along with successful newspaperman Robert Van Horn and local entrepreneur Kersey Coates headed to Washington to secure approval and financing of a railroad bridge across the Missouri River in what is now downtown Kansas City.

After a couple of weeks of lobbying, including a secret meeting held in Boston, the Congress approved the bridge and funding to build it. The bridge – called the Hannibal Bridge – was completed on July 3rd, 1869. In 1865 the population of Kansas City was 4,000. In 1870 the population of Kansas City was 32,500! Before the bridge, Kansas City was much smaller than nearby Independence or Leavenworth. In fact Leavenworth repeatedly failed to pass ordinances and bond issues that would have paved the way for a river crossing. Today the population of Kansas City is ten times larger than any of these nearby cities. A downtown lot in Kansas City that was worth $400 in 1851 sold for $11,000 in 1871. The first year the bridge was opened, an estimated 72,000 people traveled through Kansas City headed for the west. I’m sure that the vast majority of them shopped at Kearney’s store and he became a millionaire several times over.

If Mr. Kearney and his two buddies didn’t make that bold move to get the bridge built in Kansas City, the Midwest would be very different today. We could be watching the Independence Royals or the Leavenworth Chiefs (they might even occasionally win a game). St. Joseph might even be known as the Barbecue Capital of the World. Instead, Kearney and friends succeeded and the effects of their efforts are still being felt almost 150 years later.

The funny thing about bridges is that they are a lot of trouble and cause a great deal of inconvenience while they are being built. People complaining, horns honking, traffic will be backed up for miles while construction is ongoing. When a group of people decide that they want a faster or easier way to get somewhere, a bridge is often the result. Charles Esmond Kearney brought up the idea, but without the support of the residents of Kansas City (or the City of Kansas as it was known at that time) the Hannibal Bridge would never have been built.

As you look at your company today, are you happy with where you are and your prospects for the future? Maybe it’s time for your company to build a bridge to where you want to be long term? This bridge building process will likely involve changing a lot of things that you thought were just fine and it will most definitely involve getting the entire team on board with your decisions. If the status quo isn’t going to work long term then some difficult changes will most certainly have to be made. Go ahead and start construction on that bridge, but make sure the whole town is on board with the idea, or you might end up with a bridge to nowhere.