FutureEconomyCouncil

Leadership Catawba 2010 Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County January 14, 2010

8010“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

EventsCause us to?9/11

Job Losses 15.7%

recession

OilTerrorist Chin

a technology

greed

AreWhatPeople 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

Re

thinkingthing

SharingPartnerships

Connections

Opportunities

How?

Do You move an Entire Region to a Higher Level?

YesBUTWhat 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 BuildersObjectives:• 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.

Weak

signals

signals

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?

signals

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 workforceQuality of lifeLarge track of land devoted to data centers, power,

water, fiber.Could hire people from the area

Did Apple Like About US ?

90s1999Diversification

• 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?

ParallelProcesses

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

ClosingThoughts…

“There is a huge disparity between the persons sitting in this room and the average

worker in Catawba County. ” Scott MillarAugust 2009 Future Economy Council Meeting

FutureEconomyCouncil

Leadership Catawba 2010 Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County January 14, 2010