๐—œ’๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ด๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐˜€

๐—œ’๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ด๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐˜€

Not because they weren’t smart. Not because they didn’t work hard. But because nobody had ever explained to them what economic development actually is. What is the mission? What is the function? What are the dilemmas you’ll face when public purpose...
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜? ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜? ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด

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...
๐—˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—น๐˜† ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป: ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐——๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†

๐—˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—น๐˜† ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป: ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐——๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†

๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜š๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐Ÿฃ๐Ÿซ๐Ÿซ๐Ÿข๐˜ด 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...
๐— ๐˜† ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ: ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜

๐— ๐˜† ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ: ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜

I’ve put out some drafts of The Local and Regional Economic Development Handbook to a few colleagues and collaborators for their response, insights and hopefully some words of recommendation… WHAT PROFESSIONALS AND EXPERTS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS BOOK: โ€œThe...
๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™ง๐™–๐™ข๐™š๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™  ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ค๐™  ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š?

๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™ง๐™–๐™ข๐™š๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™  ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ค๐™  ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š?

I’ve been working on mapping what a genuine competency framework for local and regional economic development actually looks like โ€” and it’s both broader and deeper than most people assume.Some observations from the past 20 years:๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ...