Workforce and the creative class

Key talent has become the most important tool for economic development.

Recruiting people has become as important as recruiting companies.

In fact, a marketplace like Northern Nevada must create the type of innovative environment to attract and keep the creative class of people needed to stimulate expansion and new start-up business as well as recruited companies.

Many companies considering relocation to our area are interested in workers' skill sets and the more we can cultivate this creative class of people the more appealing our region will be to quality companies.

Some of those people are here and more are coming, due in part to the other key assets we possess, including quality of life and reasonable access to that quality of life.

Thus, the mission for economic development organizations like EDAWN, Northern Nevada Development Authority and our partners has expanded to include fostering the type of place that will attract both the business that keeps our economy diverse and vital and the people needed to run those companies.

A couple of years ago a virtually impromptu group of local citizens spent a series of Friday afternoons crafting a simple vision statement (included below) that we hoped would fit the region - both individual communities and collectively.

Once complete and such a vision is never totally complete we hoped to present the vision to organizations all over the region for their acceptance.

Dozens agreed.

The original premise was not to force any requirements on any group or community within the region, but rather to provide a template against which actions considered and taken could be measured.

The idea as I "envisioned" it was that each organization, as it moved itself forward, would simply keep the vision in view as a measurement of quality and standards inherent in their actions.

Unfortunately two things obscured the vision again, in my opinion.

It became too bureaucratic and top-heavy.

Then specific activities were discussed and put forth as action steps because the new group seemed to feel they wanted a sense of accomplishment of getting something done they could point to.

I would submit that organizations all over northwestern Nevada were doing lots of "right" things that fit well into the overall vision.We just needed to highlight and promote those accomplishments, already in motion, to reward vision-oriented activity.

Another challenge voiced was that the vision was not "original" - that it could fit any community anywhere.

Aside from a few key points about "natural environment" which not every community can boast, that seemed fine to me.

If other communities would like our vision then it seemed to pass the first test.

Now, several years later, as we focus on shaping our product, our community into the type of place that will attract the best companies and the brightest people, that simple, threeparagraph vision seems even more appropriate.

I offer it here: The Reno/Sparks/Lake Tahoe region will be an extraordinary place to live, work and visit.

To its visitors and citizens, it will offer an unmatched blend of cosmopolitan and historic attractions, natural beauty and year-round recreation, all easily accessible via a world-class transportation network designed to move people easily from place to place.

The region will boast a sophisticated and sensitive compassion for its natural environment, a rich human diversity, caring, safe, and healthy communities, a vibrant international business climate, superior education, renowned arts and prestigious annual events designed to take full advantage of the region's natural setting and seasons.

Wordsmithing is a difficult and dangerous process.

Every editor likes the story better after he or she has tinkered just a bit.

This, or any vision, may not encompass every bit of minutiae that every individual could imagine, but it seems to contain that very element that is necessary to attract and grow the creative class we are discovering and need: imagination.

It is people and natural environment centered.

It builds on strengths we possess and declares weaknesses we need to address.

During the recent legislative sessions there were voices that cried for taxation of business vs.

people.

A few of us tried to voice the notion that business is people.

Some businesses need bricks and mortar, but today, not all do.What all businesses have in common is people: entrepreneurs; owners, stockholders, stakeholders; managers; employees; vendors and customers.Without people we have no business and without business people have no basis to survive in today's economy.

Richard Florida's book "Rise of the Creative Class" explores and reveals this need in economic development extensively and is a required read if you want to build a vital and diversified economy here.

This is just a sampler.

EDAWN - and our partners in the region are people, and people mean business.

Chuck Alvey, a certified economic developer, is president and CEO of EDAWN, The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.