Well Hang Separately If We Dont Hang Together

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Well Hang Separately If We Dont Hang Together

• Kenneth E. Poole, Ph.D.
• Oklahoma City, OK
• October 17, 2006

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Lets Start A Revolution!

• If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang
  separately. Thomas Paine
• We must, indeed, all hang together or, most
  assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
  Benjamin Franklin (maybe)

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Oops! The Revolution Started Already!

• Old Industrial Economy
• Economies of scale
• (lower unit costs)
• Cheap labor land
• (keep input costs as low as possible)
• Access to natural resources for product input
• (inputs had greatest transportation costs)

• New Knowledge Economy
• Smaller niches in global marketplace
• (little fish, but big pond)
• Knowledge labor applying technology-based
  solutions
• (heads not hands)
• Entrepreneurial emphasis
• (creativity, innovation, flexibility key)

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US Employment By Industry
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Market Trends Facing Industry

• Faster, better, cheaper, NOW!
• Increased demand for complex products services
• Customization Flexibility
  Innovation
• Successful industry responses
• Smaller units (to keep overhead low) integrated
  through global subcontracting strategic
  alliances
• Capital-intensive production requiring access to
  newer technologies, higher skills, and riskier
  capital
• Importance of service entrepreneurship as
  differentiators

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Proprietors as a Proportion of the US Workforce
18.4
13.5
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Workforce Trends Affecting Industry

• Smarting up of jobs
• Need for broader array of skills esp. how to
  learn
• Need for continuous learning of technical skills
• Increased need for basic skills entrepreneurial
  work ethic
• Strong academics
• Self-motivation, responsibility, esteem,
  confidence
• Not just your 8 to 5 worker
• Increasingly flexible workplace
• Adaptability and support for learning
• Teamwork and creativity in problem solving
• More democratic/less hierarchical
• Aging demographics

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Metrics of SuccessThe IMPORTANT Outcomes

• We need to measure things like
• Adult educational attainment
• High school completion
• College-going rate
• Math/science/engineering graduates grad
  students
• Employment in high-tech occupations

• Personal income
• Company births deaths
• Employment growth in small businesses
• New product launches
• Export growth
• of research expenditures
• Equity investment ( of seed, angel, venture
  capital investments)

This is much harder to do, because no single
organization can affect all the metrics.
Source Eva Klein Associates,2005
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Our Economic Workforce Dev. Professions in
Transition

• Ineffectiveness of traditional economic and
  workforce development strategies
• Failure of educational system to respond
• Are our products (regions/people) ready for the
  21st Century economy?
• In a flat world, our People are the great
  differentiator

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Why the Answers Must Be Regional
Multi-regional

• Nature of the economic challenges
• Complexity
• Commonality
• Limits to resources
• Fiscally limited/selective/interdependent
  communities
• Scale of the competition
• Global, not local
• Coopetition
• Key asset gaps -- tend to be big

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A Framework for Assessing Regional Advantage

• Knowledge building and sustaining
• Strengthen capacitypeople and institutions
  (skills, learning, RD)
• Innovativeness
• Encourage entrepreneurs, new products,
  risk-taking
• Global image competitiveness
• Compete with the world's best regions and play
  in global markets
• Connectivity
• Upgrade linkages for goods, people, services, and
  knowledge

• Amenities
• Expand amenity assets to attract and retain
  people
• Civic community infrastructure
• Provide adequate public services to meet the
  citizen/worker demands
• Regional collaboration
• Improve capability of leaders to come together on
  regional issues

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1994
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Future Forward A New Kind of Regional
Strategy, 2002

• Skilled people
• Higher educational attainment
• Higher wages
• Innovative firms
• More productive
• Greater use of state-of-the-art technologies

• Economic diversity
• More entrepreneurship
• Expansion of producer services
• Cool places
• More amenities attractive to young adults
  active retirees
• Smart governance
• More regional coordination

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Future Forward Collaboration

• Created Future Forward Economic Alliance
• Organized of Foothills Tourism Alliance
• Established regional infrastructure advocacy
  group
• Developed web job search tool for rural area
• Implemented Future 4 Kids career counseling
  campaign for middle and high schools
• Raised 2 million for advanced engineering center
• Created higher education coordinating council to
  link 3 universities and 3 community colleges (2
  and 4-year education for health care, education,
  engineering)

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Texoma Regional ConsortiumCreating a Regional
Workforce and Economic Development Plan
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Lessons Learned

• Why Regional Solutions Havent Worked
• Common Themes in Successful Solutions
• Tips for Fostering Regional Strategies
• Common Areas for Regional Collaboration

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Limits to Regional Solutions Potential Pitfalls
Lessons Learned

• The Moving Train
• Were already doing that
• Inertia
• Resistance to change
• Fear of failure
• Politics
• Taxing structure
• Leadership structure
• Culture
• Parochialism about problems
• Culture of independence and self-sufficiency
• The wrong focus focus on developing property
  rather than promoting prosperity

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Common Themes in Economic Strategies
Lessons Learned

• Tapping a Crisis
• Fosters collaboration
• Helps overcome inertia (i.e., fragmentation)
• Reduces the likelihood of success
• Building on complimentary strengths
• Finding long-term solutions
• Infusing innovation entrepreneurship
• Role of education in developing talent

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Tips for Creating Regional Solutions That Work
Lessons Learned

• TAKE YOUR TIME!! Good plans are not written,
  they evolve
• Identify challenges relevant to everyone
• Agree on a common vision and approach to solving
  these common challenges
• Make the case for mutual self-interest
• Challenge barriers to cooperation directly
• Appreciate solutions that emerge organically

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A Few Regional Actions That Are (Relatively) Easy

• Creating a regional Identity
• Sports
• Marketing and branding
• Supporting tourism
• Advocating for transportation
• Conducting economic research analysis
• Expanding access to higher education
• Creating a competitive workforce (e.g., Career
  Pathways and One-Stops)

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Thank you

• Ken Poole
• 703-522-4980 kpoole_at_accra.org
• www.accra.org and www.creconline.org