Special Editorial By the Publisher

Let's Change Our Minds

Hopefully the first two months of 2005 have treated your geographic area well in terms of new business investment and quality job development. If my small consulting business is any reflection of your business, and I believe it is, I am optimistic this will be a good year for many communities, regions, and states across the various regions of the United States and the world.

I want to talk with you about a vitally important subject: Our mindset about change. We spend too much time in economic development resisting what must and will change in our world. Let me say at the onset, that change does not mean the same thing for all places. There are differential impacts to be considered.

I have been thinking about this issue for some time and want to share with you what I see. As you read this, please remember that I am one of you. I am talking to myself as much as I am talking to you. All of us are products, and at times victims, of our own thinking. I’m hoping this editorial will spark a much needed “honest” dialogue about where economic development is headed in the next ten years and beyond.

Change is inevitable in the economic development business, as it is in all industries. The key is our “mindset” about change. If we are not careful, what we believe (or think) can get in the way of what we know. Some of the things we believe in economic development impair our ability to see reality in a knowledge-based way. Please see an example of this below. Any sensible human being should be willing to change what they believe based upon new knowledge. Notice I said new knowledge, and not just new data or information. Economic development strikes me as more data and information-driven than knowledge-driven. That is something all of us need to change.

Here is an example of how our beliefs fail us at times. Many economic developers believe they can work miracles within the tiny “self-drawn” political and geographic boxes they call local or regional economies. And no, regionalism will not save us. It can help solve some “efficiency” problems we face in the business, but regionalism in and of itself will make little difference in the business and economic outcomes we experience in the future, unless we are willing to use economic regions as linchpins in navigating the global economy. Some regions, like Atlanta, North Carolina’s Research Triangle, Chicago, San Diego, and others get it. They see regions as the future bearing points for business, economic, and, job development.

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. I’m not suggesting that you forget about regional cooperation and collaboration, but I would urge you to define your region’s best opportunities in terms of your business, market, technological, and workforce connections to the rest of the world, and not just to the rest of your region. Further, contrary to what many regional economic development advocates say, you should not work on getting your “regional act” together before exploring better ways to link with the global economic networks that will eventually make or break you.

I see too many regional leaders getting bogged down with their own efforts to get everyone united under one organization, strategy, or slogan. By the time “everyone” is on board, the world has shifted again and valuable new opportunities have whizzed past them. Build new national and global strategic alliances now! Let go of the “belief” that you have to get your regional act together first. The truth is that you will need to work on regional cooperation and collaboration forever—because it is an ongoing responsibility of local and regional economic developers everywhere.

Many of you have read my earlier article on why ED organizations should partner nationally and globally. In general, most readers agree with what I have to say, especially in light of the reality that more and more economic development groups are beginning to move in this direction. If you don’t agree, please don’t kill the messenger. You can download my global partnering article here.

Going back to my point about what we believe in economic development, I believe our minds must be more open than ever before to new ideas and new ways of doing business. We should encourage and welcome innovative economic development policies, strategies, and practices. We’re good at telling businesses and entrepreneurs that they need to innovate and move to new business models, but how well do we “walk our own talk?” Are you, your organization, and your leadership ready to embrace bolder approaches to economic development, like my idea that economic development organizations should build effective partnerships to “co-develop” new opportunities or form new solutions to the really tough problems we face? For example, the twelve major automotive industry clusters worldwide should work together to serve the competitiveness of the global automotive industry, and not just restrict themselves to what is good for their own auto cluster. That is a big step, but one we must be ready to take if we are to avoid using our scarce public incentive dollars to pay for the over-capacity mistakes made by the world’s leading auto producers.

There is another part to this mindset or attitude that was captured so well by James Belasco and Ralph Stayer in their 1994 book, Flight of the Buffalo: "Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up." And yes, it is also true that at times we underestimate the value of what we have in economic development, especially the growth potential of people. I think our current economic development paradigm greatly underestimates the potential of the human mind and spirit. The future economies we build should reflect this larger sense of potential that exists in all people everywhere. My point here is that ED groups stand a better chance of growing the “value” of their local economies and their organizations by building a new global framework and mindset that supports our intertwined economic evolution, rather than continuing on the less productive path of individual attainment.

I’m hoping that this article resonates with you as readers and fellow thinkers and doers. There is nothing I would like more than hear what you think. Thanks for listening.

More on Economic Development Futures

ED Futures is an online journal dedicated to understanding where economic development is headed in the future. Visit us 24/7/365 at: www.don-iannone.com/edfutures. Don Iannone, a 30-year veteran of the economic development field, is the Publisher of ED Futures. Don’s consulting firm, Donald T. Iannone & Associates has worked on over 250 economic development projects in 41 states and 13 countries.

You can contact Don by telephone at: 440.449.0753 and by email at: dtia@don-iannone.com.