Planning for Extraordinary Change for Business Catawba County Chamber of Commerce October 2, 2009

Comments From Yesterday I don’t know what those people are doing but they are showing up at the post office with buckets of mail. 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.

Comments From Yesterday Good area to raise a family – schools are some of the best. We are gearing things around what we did 20 years ago. Fractured marketing – we have separate websites. We want educated people with money. We want startups here, better bandwidth, infrastructure, incubator and incentives for startups. Mooresville – Progressive and Alive

Manufacturing Solution Center How do you help a small manufacturer move to a higher level? How do you move an entire region to a higher level? Sharing Partnerships Connections Opportunities

What is the Future Economy Council? The FEC 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. Very Diverse Group Working with Rick Smyre, Communities of the Future 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

Trends and Weak Signals 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. Ubiquitous, unprecedented access to information.

Trends and Weak Signals Questions ???? 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? What is Apple really up to?

FEC Discussions Job loss since Wilmington has an employment change of 17.4% since 2000 as opposed to our -18.8%. What are they doing differently?

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

FEC Discussions What did Apple like about the area? 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

FEC Discussions Diversification is a key to moving forward It should be noted that in 1999, Catawba County was thought to be a model for diversity. Could our success in the 1990s been the real cause of our decline? We were diversified and at full employment in the 90’s and could not attract new business here because we did not have the resource of a workforce to offer. Did that limit our ability to grow and transition to modern industry from old school manufacturing (furniture and textiles).

Parallel Processes 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?

Creative Molecular 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.

FEC Discussions Still ranked last in educational attainment. Is that a factor of our schools, a young population that is not returning here after college, lack of attracting business requiring higher skills, what influences this factor? Will the fact that Apple is coming here change this? If we continue to attract businesses like Apple will the educational attainment level rise to match it? Is there a willingness and passion to learn factor in our culture?

FEC Discussions Our education system is not weak, it is performing better than most in the state. Enrollment at CVCC is at an all time high. When students finish their course of study, then what? Will there be jobs for them? If not, where will they be? Let’s get personal, think about your church, social group, at work wherever, and think about your friends and colleagues that have had children graduate from college. Where are they now? Are they here or working in some other area of the country?

FEC Discussions Part of the comment above was prompted by the fact that the Hickory MSA population has only grown by 45 since 2000 while the 45 + population has grown by 18,589.

Master Capacity Builder Training 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

Closing Thoughts Scott Millar was quick to point out that there was a huge disparity between the persons sitting in the room and the average worker in Catawba County. August 2009 Future Economy Council Meeting

Planning for Extraordinary Change for Business Catawba County Chamber of Commerce October 2, 2009