On Economic Development

Revolutions happen in the Springtime, if you let them. Spring is a time for us to think in a transformational way about ourselves. It is a time of insatiable yearning to explore parts of ourselves we have longed to know and embrace.

As I muse about my thirty years in economic development, I wonder where the time has gone, but even more importantly, what I have truly given of value to this field and those I exist to serve. Second, if I spend another ten or even fifteen years in this business, how can I give more of those things that truly matter?

Scanning the options that I can see at this moment, I conclude two things about the future. One, that I feel a stronger sense of compassion for the communities and people for which I work. It's not that I haven't cared, but I don't think I've cared enough in the right way.

Second, that I need to be a better servant leader in the future. That requires me to set even more of myself aside as I move foward.

These are revolutionary thoughts, bred by the flowering Spring, that I wish to take root inside myself and the work I do.

May I ask: "what new things are being born inside you during this fine Spring day?"