Rise — Lessons About Economic Development from Dick, Sheila and the Colonel

There has been a lot of discussi

on about the "hows and whys" of economic development lately, from data centers to the Wyoming Business Council — the discussion has been constant.

Early in my Chamber career I was exposed to 3 of the greatest economic and community development leaders on planet earth. One ran a State Chamber of Commerce, one was the VP of a larger Chamber, and the third ran a combined Chamber, industrial recruitment and tourism organization.

I am going to ask forgiveness from them as a pre-emptive attempt to seek their grace, because I am sure my feeble attempts at relating their wisdom will definitely fall short. So………the following are the lessons from Dick, Sheila and the Colonel.

Rise

There was a business journal in Georgia that published rising boats and sinking ships every month. I always thought it was a great way to visualize that someone's political stock was ascending or descending, and it certainly drew the attention of elected officials when their ship was sinking and the whole of the Georgia business community saw it illustrated.

The important lesson here (Thank You Sheila!) is that our economic development efforts should raise all boats. When good work is done — whether it be the Chamber, economic development, tourism, the Wyoming Business Council, higher ed or others — the work should better the whole community and not cost someone, some demographic or some group for the benefit of others.

Really this is about how we see the economic pie. We too often increase our slice of the pie and make somebody else's pie smaller. We should have just reached for a larger pie tin and made the economy bigger rather than fighting over the crumbs of a finite system.

Bigger is not always Better

One in one thousand every thousand years is not success. The real numbers published by one of the US's top engineering schools show how often we actually change the mind of a big company to build or locate in our community.

It's important that we work with large firms and major employers to grow our economy, but it's not realistic to think that they will be our savior and solve all our problems.

Factually, according to the US Chamber, 99.9% of all businesses in the US are small businesses and they employ nearly half of America. 43.5% of the US GDP is from small business. We know in Wyoming these numbers are even bigger.

I want you to think about the last time you heard an elected official or an organization talk about the criticality of small business. If you have, good for them — but generally we are so entranced with the shiny bauble that we forget about what really drives our economy.

The lesson here is that we need to appreciate all business and support those, large or small, that embrace free enterprise and the capitalist system. That's what brings success!

What Would Our Grandchildren Say

I think this one is an important one because communities and states that create an economy that benefits the generations are special.

It's one thing to hit the Trifecta at the Kentucky Derby last weekend (it paid $11,250.78 by the way) — it's another to hit it repeatedly for 30 years.

What I am telling you is that rather than contorting our arm to pat ourselves on the back for the one-time score of a company, we should be touting the business and regulatory environment that provides a good quality of life for our children, our children's children and even their kids.

Success and sustainability over time should be our goal, but in the social media world of immediate satisfaction it is rare to find a place that has the discipline and resilience to work on what will be.

The Wyoming Chamber of Commerce is proud to partner with business-driven Chambers of Commerce, economic development agencies and independent businesses across our state to make a better place for everyone.

We want business in the future to look back and say they did well, they were stewards of what was given to them and they made it better. As the largest community and economic development organization in the state, we take the labor of building a great future seriously.

Thanks to Dick, Sheila and the Colonel for setting a great example — now let's get to work on the foundation that those before us have made for us and make our communities, our state and our nation stellar. Won't you join us?