Job Growth in the Ville: Growing the Pot vs Enriching the Soil - (Unexepected) Part 2

I must admit, this morning I am eating crow - the thing I hate the most to do.  Not because I was called out or corrected by a peer, but because I had a realization.  I was fortunate enough to network over coffee with one of the city's bright, young, minds in the sphere of local economic development, and he motivated me beyond belief. After my last rant about the mental thrashing I felt I took with our Director of Innovation, it was extremely uplifting to commiserate with someone of like mind and beliefs about the potential of our town.  But it made me realize that Mr. Smith is not wrong in his views about how to develop Louisville (although I disagree with some of his views), but just a contrasting point in the overarching argument that we both share.

Rebuilding Louisville into the great city she used to be a century ago is no easy process.  Like any old home in a state of disrepair, there are many steps to the cleansing and beautification process that must take place before the finished product comes to fruition.  Luckily we have workers tending to many phases of the revitalization.

To achieve true exponential growth there are three phases of achievement that must take place.  In one sector new businesses must be brought in to add immediate job creation and revenue generation for the city.  These additions bring excitement to the city because they are the most detailed and publicized developments we see.  This is Mr. Smith's task of "growing the pot."  The second phase of development is to parlay the current infrastructure for better use - transportation, public education, parks and city services.  This was my point on enriching the soil.  But the third area, and one that is greatly overlooked, is the cultivation and development of the start-up and entrepreneurial community.  These would serve as our shots of nitrogen and fertilizer in the hypothetical pot analogy I made in the last entry.

You see start-ups bring energy and new blood to the community.  They bring a more robust buy-in towards the community because people now have to come together and unite under the common goal of making this new idea into a reality and molding a successful company out of a dream.  When you get many successful start-ups in one community at the same time you now have a group of thinkers and doers who can unify under the umbrella of not only turning ideas into reality, but also making their overall environment a place that is nurturing towards their whims.  Once this energy combines with the renewed growth generated through the consolidation of other systems, and the expansion of the pot through outside investment, you now have an equation for success that creates exponential explosion throughout the entire system.  This combination of factors can only take place when there's a total system buy-in from everyone involved, and the entire community is committed to making a Major League Louisville.