By: Lennard James
Some people accept positions of leadership; others transform them into platforms for service. Brian E. Harris has emerged as the latter, a Memphis native whose hands-on approach to youth development is helping redefine what public service can look like for the next generation.
As a leader with the City of Memphis Office of Youth Services, Harris has brought more than administrative experience to the job. He has brought accessibility, business experience, community relationships and, perhaps most importantly, a willingness to personally engage the young people his office exists to serve.
Harris has helped transform what many traditionally think of as a municipal youth department. Rather than allowing youth services to simply function as another government office, his leadership reflects a larger philosophy: young people need opportunities, but they also need adults they can see, talk to and look to as examples.
For Memphis youth, that distinction is important.
Young people today face a complicated environment. They are navigating education, employment, social media, peer pressure, economic uncertainty and decisions about their futures, often simultaneously. Programs can provide resources, but meaningful youth development requires relationships. It requires adults who are willing to listen, encourage, challenge, and show young people that success is attainable.
Harris’ hands-on approach has helped give Memphis youth someone to look to as an example.
His effectiveness in that space is strengthened by a professional background that extends well beyond government. Harris has held senior leadership responsibilities at Best Buy, gaining experience in operations, human resources, employee engagement, talent development, performance management, and customer service. That corporate experience gave him practical knowledge of what employers expect and what young people need to succeed in the workplace.
That matters when developing youth programs.
Preparing a teenager for the future is about more than helping that student find a summer job. It is about teaching professionalism, communication, accountability, teamwork, leadership and the ability to navigate an increasingly competitive economy. Harris’ experience in both corporate management and public service gives him an understanding of both sides of that equation.
Education has also played an important role in his development. Harris earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from Bethel University’s College of Professional Studies, making the Dean’s List throughout his program, and has pursued graduate-level business education.
Organizational leadership may be printed on his degree, but it is also visible in his approach to service.
Harris understands that successful organizations are ultimately built around people. Whether managing employees in corporate America or helping young Memphians discover opportunities, the fundamentals remain remarkably similar: identify potential, provide resources, establish expectations, and give people room to develop.
His commitment to service did not begin with a City of Memphis position.
For more than 17 years, Harris has supported the Muscular Dystrophy Association through volunteer and fundraising efforts. His community involvement has also included service connected to Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church and the Hospitality Hub, along with an expressed interest in supporting people experiencing homelessness and advancing youth development.
His civic involvement includes service on the Memphis Alcohol Commission, and he participated in the political process as a candidate for Memphis City Council in 2023. His campaign emphasized issues including education, small-business development and opportunities for young people.
But youth development is where Harris’ professional experience, community commitment and leadership philosophy converge.
Memphis does not suffer from a shortage of talented young people. What many young people lack is consistent access to mentors, employment, professional networks, career exposure and adults willing to invest time in their potential.
That is why youth services work is so important.
A summer employment opportunity can become a teenager’s first résumé entry. A conversation with a business owner can introduce entrepreneurship. An internship can reveal an entirely new career. A mentor can help a young person reconsider a bad decision. Exposure to government can create a future public servant.
Sometimes one opportunity changes the trajectory of an entire life.
Harris’ leadership recognizes that young people cannot become what they have never been allowed to see. When city leaders, executives, entrepreneurs and professionals interact directly with youth, possibilities that once seemed distant begin to feel attainable.
His own journey provides an example.
He is a Memphis native who built a career in corporate leadership, pursued higher education, committed himself to community service and moved into public leadership. He is also a father of two and a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Those experiences allow Harris to communicate with young people from multiple perspectives, not simply as an administrator, but as a father, businessman, community servant and Memphian.
Visibility also matters. Young people notice who shows up.
They remember the adults who shake their hands, learn their names, attend their programs and tell them they are capable of more. Effective youth leadership cannot always happen from behind a desk. Sometimes leadership means being in the room.
That is where Harris’ hands-on philosophy has distinguished his approach.
The long-term measure of his influence will not simply be the number of programs administered or events conducted. It will be found in the young people who secure their first jobs, graduate, enter college or workforce training, launch businesses, develop leadership skills and eventually return to serve Memphis themselves.
Brian Harris is helping transform the concept of youth services from simply providing programs into developing people.
Memphis’ future will ultimately be determined by the generation growing up in the city today. Investing in them is therefore not merely a social responsibility; it is an investment in Memphis itself.
Through his leadership, Harris is sending young Memphians an important message: you matter, your future matters, and people in this city are prepared to help you succeed.
That is more than youth programming.
That is leadership by example.
