𝘔𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝟣𝟫𝟫𝟢𝘴

I thought I was reasonably well prepared. I had read the research, understood the theories, sat in plenty of meetings with practitioners.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the reality of how economic development actually works.

The people I was working with weren’t interested in debate or deliberation. They weren’t there to discuss frameworks. They were laser focused on delivery — on helping real people in deprived communities, with limited time and even more limited resources.

Academic theory felt very far away in those rooms. 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘬 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴!

It took me a while to understand that this wasn’t anti-intellectualism. It was professionalism. These were people who knew exactly what they were there to do, and they didn’t need a consultant from outside telling them things that might not even be relevant to their context.

I came into this role with a Ph.D. but was open and humble enough to learn from some great people and places. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦.

It also shaped every page of The Local and Regional Economic Development Handbook — which is built around practice, not theory, and the reality of what economic developers actually do.

👉 lredhandbook.com

#EconomicDevelopment #PlaceLeadership #Regeneration #ProfessionalDevelopment