Future Economy Council Leadership Catawba 2010 Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County January 14, 2010

80 10 “There is a force for change that’s basically invisible using old ways of seeing. It’s a force we have to let collide with and even destroy our old ideas about how the world should be before we can hope to make any sense at all” Age of the Unthinkable, Ramo

Events Cause us to ? 9/11 Job Losses 15.7% recessio n Oil Terrorist Chin a technolog y greed

Are What People Saying

“Good area to raise a family – schools are some of the best.” “I have served on a number of committees lately and they are all trying to fight the same fight.” “We are not growing. We are not letting the world know we exist.” “We have a horrible “Brain Drain” “When someone finishes school they are looking for a high paying job.”

“I don’t know what those people are doing but they are showing up at the post office with buckets of mail.” “We are gearing things around what we did 20 years ago.” “We want educated people with money.” “We want startups here, better bandwidth, infrastructure, incubator and incentives for startups.” “Fractured marketing – we have separate websites.” “What did we do wrong?.”

Every ReRe thinking thing

Sharing Partnerships Connections Opportunities How? Do You move an Entire Region to a Higher Level?

Yes BUT What is the Future Economy Council?

The Future Economy Council is…. a group that is working to develop transformational leaders in Catawba County, able to understand and utilize the skills of building capacities to create a more resilient economy. a very Diverse Group working with Rick Smyre, Communities of the Future developing Master Capacity Builders

Master Capacity Builders Objectives: To develop new ways of thinking about the future To be able to identify trends and weak signals To be able to ask appropriate questions To be able to listen for value and find new connections To be able to connect diverse ideas and people for continuous innovation To understand how to create "innovation networks" To design and evolve parallel processes To be able to identify and utilize new and emerging patterns To be able to think systemically at a higher level of complexity To be able take appropriate individual and team risks to develop new ideas and methods

are seeds of change that exist today and they can tell about big trends in the future. are something odd or strange today. Wea k signal s

Trends and Weak For the first time in human history, children are authorities on a central innovation – the new digital media. This generation gap has its implications Universal connectivity. What does that mean? Jobs that do not require proximity. Universal competition? Ubiquitous, unprecedented access to information. Universal collaboration?

What was it like when we couldn’t get an answer in 5 minutes or less? Could you manage your staff in 140 characters or less? Could a Tweet overthrow a dictator? How did Social Media affect the elections? What is Apple really up to? signal s Questions

What? Williams and Sonoma Apple Computers Restoration Hardware Pirates of the Caribbean Phil Specter Murder Trial Do the following have in common?

What? Our manufacturing attitude Culture of a hardworking workforce Quality of life Large track of land devoted to data centers, power, water, fiber. Could hire people from the area Did Apple Like About US ?

90s 1999 Diversification

Heat, Beat and Treat tradition based. Are we looking at nanotechnology? Manufacturing using natural principles? Energy opportunities? Creative processes? Are we looking at opportunities that make us more resilient in the future? Parallel Processe s

Age What are the talent and creative resources that are here now? What are we doing to support and encourage those people? Only a few jobs??? Think about the past and all the businesses that started here in the Hickory area. Creative Molecular

Closing T houghts… “There is a huge disparity between the persons sitting in this room and the average worker in Catawba County. ” Scott Millar August 2009 Future Economy Council Meeting

Future Planning for Extraordinary Change for Business Catawba County Chamber of Commerce October 2, 2009 Economy Council Leadership Catawba 2010 Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County January 14, 2010