Throw Your Weight Around

“Creativity is one of the last remaining legal ways of gaining an unfair advantage over the competition.”
-Ed McCabe

Leverage can be defined as a mechanism to create advantage for yourself or those you represent. Governments and businesses have used leverage for good and bad over history. In today’s economic era, a small group of technology and media companies are the newest examples of those that have the ability to sway markets with their expansive power.

Few fully understand the leverage they have or could possess themselves. Even fewer have a plan to create a position of unfair advantage. Communities of people – be them universities, cities, states, or membership organizations – possess the ability, but feel it would be exploitative to chart this course. While this may be true in the extreme, I would like to suggest an exercise, particularly for the economic development community. Ask yourself these questions:

• What are your community’s businesses points of leverage? Are you fully exercising them?

• What points of leverage could you develop that would create unfair advantage? For example, could your school system become so much better than those around you that people would vie to live in your community? Try to create a list of 4-5 points.

Let’s have fun this week, grow our communities and our businesses, and work to get better!

-Kenny McDonald 

One Columbus Update

• Our hearts are with the families and loved ones of police officers Anthony Morelli and Eric Joering, and with the entire Westerville community. Information on vigils, donations and ways to honor the memory of the fallen officers can be found here.
• This week, the One Columbus team will meet with companies in Montreal. Back at home, we’ll attend the 2018 Power Breakfast.