“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” Babe Ruth
This past week many witnessed a World Series comeback by the St. Louis Cardinals and the great Buckeyes comeback with just seconds left to beat Wisconsin. Both were thrilling wins and great examples of perseverance and determination.
I’ve written about striving for excellence, and One Columbus strategy is to grow the most dynamic regional economy in the United States. That path to excellence starts with creating a Region that is hard to beat. We want decision makers to know the Columbus Region’s business climate, cost competitiveness, market access, and talent is better than most and in the aggregate hard to beat.
To take this sport analogy a bit further I would suggest that the following principles be applied to our economic development strategy:
•Home field advantage: a determined and relentless focus on assisting existing businesses that need help in expanding, finding and training new talent, and navigating the challenges of the global economy.
•Execution: by preparing the physical infrastructure, quality workforce, and economic development system that is well prepared to serve the needs of businesses acting proactively as much as possible and reacting efficiently when required.
•Don’t beat yourself up: by investing in economic development in our communities, our Region, and within the State of Ohio. We must market our Region as a business location consistently and not create unnecessary obstacles to our own success by acting parochially or without a vision for the future.
•Deliver big in the biggest games: when big moments arrive, be it an individual opportunity or a global economic issue – we must continue to rise to the challenge for the benefit of our businesses, and most importantly, those unemployed or displaced by the economy. This requires creative thinking by including all aspects of our community in the effort to win.
This week, this year, this decade – let’s be hard to beat, undefeatable, and let’s never give up trying to make the Columbus Region all that it can be.
Columbus2020! Update
Columbus2020!’s Board of Directors meet this week to discuss the progression of our business plan and to discuss 2012 priorities. We will also meet with our Economic Developers’ Advisory Committee this Friday to discuss many of those same issues. The 2020! business development team is preparing to be in Atlanta and California next week as well as preparing for our second trip to Germany in the past six months.
Kenny McDonald
Chief Economic Officer
Columbus2020!
614.225.6060
km@columbcolumbusregion.com
columbusregion.com
@kennymcdon