the opportunities ahead for north central indiana ed morrison

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The Opportunities Ahead for North Central Indiana

Ed MorrisonPurdue Center for Regional Development

[email protected]

May 8, 2009

Please accept my apologies for not being able to be with you at the Leadership kick-off.In this short paper, I would like to share with you several points to illustrate how NorthCentral Indiana is rapidly becoming a national model for building regional collaboration.This growing prominence creates new opportunities for our Regional LeadershipInstitute.

Over the past 18 months, civic leaders around the country are adopting a regionalstrategies at an accelerating rate. The economic downturn has underscored an

important new fact: the only way to compete effectively within a global economy is tocollaborate regionally. Regional strategies enable us to align, link and leverage theassets our companies need to compete in global markets.

As leaders from across the country search for models regional collaboration, they areincreasingly fixing their eyes on North Central Indiana. Members of our core team forour WIRED grant -- Christy Bozic, Craig Lamb, Roger Feldhaus, Jan Hendrickson, ScottHutcheson -- are speaking at national meetings to explain the success we haveenjoyed.

We have demonstrated that the innovation takes place in open networks and safe civic

spaces. We create powerful innovations when we find the trust to share new ideasfreely and the personal commitment to translate these ideas into action quickly. Wehave demonstrated that we can think and act strategically in new ways. Our oldapproaches of strategic planning have given way to new habits of Strategic Doing whichare cheaper, faster, and more effective. This approach shows us that we can undertakecomplex projects by following some simple rules.

Southeast Wisconsin and the Milwaukee 7 region quickly saw the promise of our newpractices of accelerating innovation through Strategic Doing. The Milwaukee 7 regionadopted both Strategic Doing and our Opportunity Fund model for identifying andfunding promising new training and education initiatives. Milwaukee!s Water Council --

a new cluster of over 80 companies and educational institutions engaged in fresh watertechnology -- has also followed the new practices we developed in North CentralIndiana.

The Center for Education Innovation and Regional Economic Development representsover 40 school districts in Southeast Wisconsin exploring new approaches to talentdevelopment. The Center also embraced our approach to collaborative leadership andthe practices of Strategic Doing.

Friday, May 8, 2009" Page 1 of 3


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Increasingly, other regions are finding value in these new practices. In the past sixmonths, workforce development professionals in Idaho and Colorado have launchednew initiatives to transform their public workforce system using Strategic Doing. Thefederal government!s Employment and Training Administration is now integrating these

practices and regional forums throughout the country. We are in the midst of conductingStrategic Doing workshops for hundreds of workforce development professionals inmulti-state regional forums in Boston, Atlanta, Kansas City, San Francisco and Dallas.

North Central Indiana is also innovating with new analytic tools to develop regionalstrategies. In the coming month, the Economic Development Administration will bereleasing a new set of analytic tools for regional leaders developed here in Indiana.These tools leverage Internet databases to provide regional leaders with powerfulinsights into their economy. A team led by Sam Cordes at the Purdue Center forRegional Development and Jerry Conover at the Indiana Business Research Centerdefined and tested these advanced tools.

These new practices and tools require more of regional leaders. Command-and-controlmodels of leadership are not very effective in today!s world. Instead, regional leadersneed more subtle skills to interpret and guide. In Washington, the Council onCompetitiveness is completing a report on the new challenges of developing andsupporting regional leaders with these new skills. The Council is also looking at NorthCentral Indiana for guidance.

Our new Regional Leadership Institute has an enormous opportunity to continuebuilding a national reputation for our region. In the months ahead, we will surely betested. The continuing contraction of our automobile industry places enormous stress

on our economy, our businesses, our governments, our neighbors, our families. Wemust continue to explore new ways of linking and leveraging our assets to find newopportunities. Our WIRED grant gave us the chance to demonstrate that collaborationpays in clear and practical ways. Through collaboration, we think faster, spotopportunities faster, make decisions faster, and act faster.

In short, we become more competitive.

In less than a month, we will have more opportunities to expand investment in ourregion. The new stimulus legislation and its emphasis on green jobs creates a series ofsignificant competitive grants. If we can compete successfully for these grants, we will

have more seed money to stimulate additional innovation.

We already have a head start. Here are some additional examples of what we haveaccomplished by working together:

Through our WIRED initiative, we have developed the first green collar certification.We can become a national leader in new practices of sustainable manufacturing.



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Our Skunk Works initiative at Inventrek is already receiving national recognition as acreative response to re-engaging our skilled talent.

Our Indiana Energy Systems Network has rapidly fixed on some vital initiatives todevelop new opportunities in alternative energy markets.

Within our region, we have the highest concentration of pre-engineering courses in

high school in the country, through our efforts to expand Project Lead the Way. The New Tech High in Rochester has become a national model for how a rural school

district can transform its prospects by adopting an entirely new approach to highschool education.

The video of our guitar summer camp for high school students has inspired civicleaders across the country. This imaginative approach to exposing students to the joysof manufacturing provoked applause when I recently showed it to over 200 attendeesof the Governor!s Workforce Summit in Idaho.

We have a shared responsibility to strengthen our collaborations and accelerate theflow of innovations that can come from these partnerships. Our Regional Leadership

Institute provides the core to expand these networks. Through the Institute, we willbuild the skills and develop the insights we need to transform our economy.

Late last year, Toyota!s president, Katsuaki Watanabe, told a news conference inNagoya, Japan, near the company!s Toyota City headquarters, The change in the worldeconomy is of a magnitude that comes once every hundred years.

True enough.

Our generation of leaders faces the challenge of charting the new pathways betweenour Grandfather!s Economy and our Grandchildren!s Economy. We have an

extraordinary opportunity to transform our civic life to meet these challenge.

With your help and continued commitment, we will.


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