Leadership is Key to Advancement

The Business View – October 2017 / From the Publisher – Bill Sisson

Early in my economic development career, I had the opportunity to do work in a large number of rural communities throughout the state of Mississippi by way of an economic development outreach position at the University of Southern Mississippi. It was rewarding and fascinating work and taught me many lessons along the way. One profound realization was the importance of leadership.

I found it interesting that you could be doing work in two counties with identical population, infrastructure assets or lack thereof, and the same challenging community issues, but one county would be making clear advancements while the other one continued to fall behind.

What made the difference between the two? It always came down to leadership. The areas with energized and optimistic leaders were finding a way to mobilize their communities and paving the way for a better life for all of their communities’ citizens.

In the book The Coming Jobs, author Jim Clifton explores the importance of leadership. His thesis is that all the studies and data show that economic breakthroughs are now coming from a combination of forces. These forces are no longer at the national level. Today, they are primarily within cities, at great universities, and from influential local leaders.

In Mobile, we are blessed with many outstanding leaders – in our government, at our educational institutions and in our business community. In fact, it is the reason for Mobile’s economic and larger community successes.

As we move forward, let’s challenge ourselves with continuing to cultivate good leadership, by encouraging and supporting leaders who are comfortable with change and uncomfortable with the status quo. That way, we can continue to be a community making advancements and standing out from all the others.

Click here to read The Business View – October 2017