Written by Rolf Provan, Luckett & Farley Architects and Engineers, President & CEO

In month two of Leadership Kentucky’s class of 2026, this incredible group of people visited my hometown, Louisville.

I applied for Leadership Kentucky partly through the realization that I may know more about the country I grew up in for the first 18 years of my life than I do about the far corners of the state where I have lived for 30 years.  Although I didn't grow up a Louisvillian, it has been my home longer than anywhere else, and I have come to love it. It can be a city that brims with confidence, on occasion crossing into arrogance about its role in the state, which I have suspected is often rooted in ignorance of what makes up the people and communities across the Commonwealth. My commitment to do my part and truly engage with the rest of the state led me here. Yet, there are times when the city’s self-doubt is apparent in the same breath. Louisville can also be its own harshest critic and get down on itself. The rest of the state can sometimes be a little quick to judge it, too. Pride and prejudice? Month 2 of the 2026 class of Leadership Kentucky helped me put a bit more perspective on both.

I was asked to be the tour guide on our bus the first morning, narrating our visits to Churchill Downs and the West End for my classmates from across Kentucky. I realized quickly that I knew enough to get by, but not enough to do it well. So, I did the reading. I went and filled in the gaps in my history of both places before I ever picked up the microphone. It turned out to be a gift to myself as much as to the group — I came out of it knowing my own city better, and a better advocate because of it. Maybe, before I invest time in learning more about the rest of the state, I still have work to do at home?

First stop Churchill Downs. After a tour of the Paddock Club, the SI Club, Millionaire's Row, the Winner's Circle, and, thanks to yellow teammate Gil’s persistence, a sneak peek of a Speakeasy, Track President Mike Anderson walked us through what it takes to run one of the biggest weeks in American sports. In case any of us had any doubts, there is no question of the enormous contribution Churchill Downs makes to this city both through the Derby and its corporate headquarters and employees. Every year the Kentucky Derby is one of those moments that the city brims with confidence with good reason.

I may be more attached to those Twin Spires than most in our group. Luckett & Farley's predecessors designed that iconic structure 130 years ago, and I never get tired of saying so. In fact, I said so enough times over the microphone that morning that I suspect a few of my classmates left Louisville convinced Luckett & Farley designed the entire skyline, the bridges, and possibly the river itself. For the record, my predecessors did not build everything in this city. It only sounds that way when I'm the one holding the microphone. Too much pride? Probably!

The afternoon took us to West Louisville, and the story shifted from spectacle to substance, fast.
At the Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center, Goodwill Kentucky and its partners are working to undo the daunting impact of decades of under-investment in the city’s West End. Doing important work to connect those who have faced the utmost in adversity to jobs, education, and healthcare, right alongside the Norton Sports Health Athletics & Learning Center and the new Norton West Louisville Hospital. This is a community slowly rising and working to recover from decades of prejudice and doing it with pride rather than resentment. Sadiqa Reynolds said it best: no one wants to live next to hopelessness. She and her partners are building the opposite of that. On purpose. She is one of the most courageous leaders I have ever met, and I am grateful that this group got to hear her always candid perspective on the work that still needs to be done.

That evening, Larry had taken the initiative to make sure every one of our out-of-town classmates felt a proper Louisville welcome. As the group relaxed together over an urban bourbon we could thank him for making his Louisville classmates proud.

The next day, because Janice, Carrie and Helen knew how to balance the serious with the joyful, we played. A behind-the-scenes visit to the Louisville Zoo had us feeding giraffes and rhinos and getting properly introduced by a very opinionated penguin. There was also a gorilla who is more camera-savvy than half the influencers I know — he found his angle, held it, and waited for us to catch up. If being “comfortable in your own skin” exists in the animal kingdom, I think I saw it that morning. He knew exactly how good he looked and felt no need to prove it to anyone! Appropriate self-confidence, the gorilla is the hero of this story!

From the Louisville Zoo we travelled to the Kentucky Center for The Performing Arts. Kim Baker gave us a well disguised sneak-peak of the future aspirations for a redesigned Kentucky Center for the Arts. I would tell you which design firm they are working with but need to practice some humility! Then Kim with Jessica Wethington, and Andy Treinen gave us an inside look at what it takes to keep downtown vibrant through the arts. They didn’t say it but watching them you can see that great leadership plays its part.

Tori Murden McClure's take on leadership was an example in vulnerability. She spoke to our class about being the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic, and what struck me most wasn't the accomplishment itself, but how openly she talked about the parts of her that made the journey harder and, the somewhat less accepted traits that made her uniquely qualified to achieve this staggering world first. She was honest about being different from the people around her for most of her life, and honest that the same qualities that made her an outsider were exactly what let her survive weeks alone on an ocean. She didn't separate her strengths from her weaknesses. That kind of public vulnerability is rare, and it was the most quietly powerful thing I heard all week.

While we were there, Josh Ford of the Louisville Dance Alliance led us through a movement experience in one of the many Kentucky Center for the Arts’ performance and rehearsal spaces. His line has stuck with me since: dance is a feeling, not a shape. I can confirm that my own shape was not the point, because whatever shape I was making out there, it was not one anyone had choreographed on purpose. I felt the feeling, though. The feeling was mostly relief when it ended, followed by genuine joy that some of the class were just as gloriously uncoordinated as I was.

We closed the day at the Kentucky Science Center, rediscovering our inner ten-year-olds in the makerspace, while learning more about an organization that does an outstanding job of mixing play with STEM learning for the good of the workforce, and for the future prospects of ALL our kids.

On our last morning together for a month, we toured Humana's stunning new Waterside headquarters, a building where you can feel the design was intentional, built to foster collaboration and reshape what a workplace can be. As someone who believes that design shapes how people feel and connect, that one hit close to home for me, and no, Luckett & Farley did not design it! Thanks to Brad Keller and his team at Humana for their outstanding hospitality!

While we there, we heard directly from the people leading our city forward, and what they are doing to bridge the counter-productive city-state divide I mentioned earlier. Mayor Craig Greenberg has been willing to sit down and build real relationships with leadership in Frankfort — something mayors here have not always been quick to do. The difference is palpable and the change is yielding real results. Respecting differences and overcoming pride is a strategy! LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey and Deputy Chief Emily McKinley talked about how their department is building genuine relationships with neighborhoods that have historically been on the receiving end of prejudice, not just policing them. They are clearly aware that their work connects directly to a better trajectory for the whole city, and by extension the whole state. Again, being vulnerable and building bridges to bring about change.

Carlos Sanchez, President of AT&T Kentucky (and a graduate from one of the better classes of Leadership Kentucky, but not quite the best), told us about One Louisville, the newly unified economic development and chamber organization built from LEDA and GLI joining forces. Bridge-building, again — collaboration chosen over competition. Carlos also got one of the best introductions ever. Amanda, his own team member (and ours), stood up and delivered it entirely in rhyme — full couplets, no notes, not a single line that clunked. I have no idea how long she worked on that, or how many times she rehearsed it in her car, but it landed perfectly and set the whole morning up with positive energy.

Looking back on these few days, I watched pride and prejudice, arrogance and humility play out in the people (and animals) who spoke to us. Some leaders showed real humility — a willingness to be vulnerable about their own struggles that I found more compelling than any polished talking point. I also felt pride that minimizes the voices of citizens or colleagues — and to me, that is exactly where trust is lost and collaboration and progress stall out. Others showed an ability to thrive and persevere under genuinely adverse conditions, which is its own kind of quiet leadership.

And all of us, as a class, showed something I think matters more than any single leader's style: the ability to build real relationships across our differences — different professions, different backgrounds, different corners of the state — and to let that shape how we show up for Kentucky's future, not just our own, so that we are working to make it stronger through our own togetherness.

I am so grateful for this class. Every trip deepens our appreciation for each other, and we are building real friendships, not just professional ones. This group knows how to have fun together. If I had to pick one word for it, it would be joy. I saw that gratitude show up in real moments too. When Jill needed support, the team wrapped her in a warm embrace without anyone asking them to. That is what great teams do. And somewhere in there, Lelan had his own proud Elvis moment in a glittering silver suit, immortalized forever in a meme I cannot unsee and will not soon let him forget. Not every moment of this trip needs a deeper meaning. Some of them are just funny.

On reflection, my hope for my city is simple: Louisville, be prouder of yourself, and more ambitious. But not just for yourself, for all the citizens of Kentucky. With pride comes responsibility. It's on me, as a citizen, to make sure there is a direct link between what we build in Louisville and how it benefits Kentucky as a whole. This is not a zero-sum game, and it never has been.

Pride, well placed, builds up a person, a community, a city. Left unchecked, it curdles into the very arrogance and prejudice we're trying to overcome. Humility, well placed, opens doors. Left unchecked, it becomes doubt that keeps a great city or state from believing in itself. I'm grateful this class keeps teaching me the difference — and grateful to call Louisville home while I keep learning it.