I sat in meetings early in my career where decisions were being made and I didn’t know the local backstory. Who had tried what before? Why certain approaches had been abandoned? What are the political sensitivities? What the community actually needed versus what looked good on paper?

You can’t get that from a textbook. You learn it by asking, listening, and staying humble.

Clients and communities aren’t interested in lessons handed down from afar by someone who hasn’t taken the time to understand their place. And they’re right not to be.

The best economic developers I’ve worked with over thirty years combine two things: deep subject knowledge and genuine local intelligence. One without the other isn’t enough.

The handbook gives you the subject knowledge. The local intelligence — that part you still have to earn.

👉 lredhandbook.com

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