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 Over the past months, we’ve heard increasingly depressing news about economic crises, first in the U.S. and then spreading around the world, bankrupting once-invulnerable financial institutions and industries upon which our economies have relied and thrived for years. In some instances, notably Iceland, the downturn has not only hit industries, but even entire nations. In response, we’ve also heard attempts by federal, state and provincial governments to jump-start sluggish or eroding economies, boost industries, create jobs, and stop the leakages before they become floods. We also hear about solutions: interest rates are lowered, big industries are offered incentives and funding appears for infrastructure projects, always a favourite instrument in the government’s economic recovery tool belt.
What we haven’t heard yet is support for building the capacity of communities, urban or rural, to be more resilient in weathering these economic storms. In such times as these, it is crucial to nurture the spirit and will of ordinary citizens to create opportunities out of realistic visions and the desire and passion to create vibrant, healthy places to live, work and play. Although government remedies and incentives may prove to be crucial ingredients in strengthening Eastern Ontario’s communities and businesses, I think Mike Stolte, Executive Director of the Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL) has it right when he suggests that what is also needed is support for learning and innovation at the community level. Creative Communities is pleased to offer his opinion on the limitations of stimulus packages and what we really need to build strong economies: Stimulus Misses Communities - Learning, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Communities Should be Cornerstone of Economic Recovery"Perhaps the most important resource available to the entrepreneurial community is the personal initiative of the individuals who call it home "
Heartland Center (Nebraska) – "The Entrepreneurial Community – A Strategic Leadership Approach to Community Survival" It seems like a distant memory. Five years ago we were on the right track. Canada was moving to position itself as a beacon of learning and innovation, indisputable pillars of prosperity in the 21st century.
There was consensus we had to move beyond our dependence on pulling our finite resources out of the ground, out of the sea and shipping them off without adding extra value. The strategy was sound, endorsed by all levels of government, the OECD and others.
Then the sleek commodity boom pulled up alongside like a Porsche, and with her breathtaking lines, speed and promises of riches, we abandoned our solid, smart Corolla (sorry Ford, GM and Chrysler), our sound principles, and chased her. We got sucked in.
Five years later, we've been caught flat-footed, unable to respond strategically to the troubles in the manufacturing heartland and elsewhere. Our governments react, aiming stimulus at individuals and industries, forgetting the critical unit called community, and forgetting the innovation, learning and home grown entrepreneurship that has played catalytic roles in strengthening our communities and country in financial crises past.
In the early 1980s my hometown of Sudbury, rocked by record low commodity prices, looked ready to die. Perhaps spurred on by the Globe and Mail's editorial cartoon - a skeletal beaver on the Big Nickel - the community responded identifying a future that brought hope to its beleaguered citizens: Science North (a world class science centre), a waterfront pathway along the city's beautiful Ramsey Lake, positioning Sudbury and Laurentian University as the world centre for mining expertise. The Neutrino Observatory and other innovative projects followed on these early successes.
My adopted city, Nelson, BC, reinvented itself from a crisis in the 1980s when three large employers shut down and the spectre of foreclosure hung over the town. Again, the community came together, identifying assets and opportunities through a strategic process. Revitalizing Baker Street, Nelson's 100-year-old main street, became the focus of attention. The "yes we can" optimism led to other small incremental successes. Today, a diverse and energetic entrepreneurial class – 1,200 business licenses for the 10,000 residents (the highest rate in Canada) – are testament to the commitment of the people to the community. The community needed to innovate, to inspire and to develop its home grown entrepreneurs.
Hidden in these stories is the critical financial and facilitative role the provincial and federal governments played in helping these communities identify and carry out their ambitions. Had we focused only on individuals and industries, these economic transformations would not have occurred.
Our communities and our country need to rebuild themselves on these sound, tested principles. Like a good high school athlete who relies on his natural strengths (commodities) but ignores the books (innovation, learning and entrepreneurship), we do so at our peril.
Canada needs to re-establish policies that support a culture of learning – not just money to universities and colleges, but new learning that stimulates the curiosity that will lead to the next insulin discovery or the building of better communities. We need to instil a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation where we recognize, reward and mentor the people who excel in these areas and give back to the communities who supported their getting there. We need to fit communities with new sets of glasses that allow young people, displaced workers, teachers, and community leaders to spot and harness the abundant opportunities.
A stimulus package that fails to recognize these principles and forgets the critical role of the community in economic transformation will be wasted money.
Mike Stolte is the Executive Director of the non-profit Centre for Innovative & Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL) and Chair of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF). Stolte, the co-creator of the Business Vitality Index (BVI) and other community building tools and processes, has spoken in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand on building entrepreneurial communities.
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