Revitalizing Small Town America
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•676 views
This document discusses strategies for revitalizing small towns by focusing on future trends in work. It outlines demographic, technological, financial, environmental, and political trends that will shape the future, such as an aging population, the growth of remote work, exponential technological changes, and climate change. It also discusses how talent and skills will increasingly drive location decisions. The document advocates that towns adopt "future smart" strategies to anticipate coming changes and attract talent, such as creating high-skill jobs and reinventing education, in order to thrive in the future.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to Revitalizing Small Town America
Similar to Revitalizing Small Town America (20)
More from Whittaker Associates
More from Whittaker Associates (17)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Revitalizing Small Town America
- 1. REVITALIZING SMALL TOWN AMERICA By Focusing on the Future of Work
- 3. AGENDA Why – Becoming Future Smart How – STEEP Process What – Trends Shaping the Future
- 5. EARLVILLE, IL CIRCA 2016 Why What You Do Matters!
- 6. EARLVILLE, IL POP. 1,500
- 9. IT IS ABOUT PEOPLE
- 10. YOUR FIRST PAYING JOB? •What was your first paying job? How old were you when you got it? How much did you earn?
- 13. WHERE ARE WE GOING?
- 14. ECONOMIC Work moves to the people More complex requiring high skill level Fewer workers, same output 30% of work done in home office
- 15. ECONOMIC - THE GAP Source: The Second Machine Age Source: The Second Machine Age
- 16. UPWORK.COM
- 19. TALENT Talent drives location Live first, work second Zero-sum talent pool Enormous demand for talent Business demands education reinvention
- 20. WORKING FOR A NON-HUMAN? Dr. Watson I presume? AI – now and in the future Robot caregivers Robot networks
- 21. CHANGE Adapt Linear Rearview Mirror Where we’ve been Dinosaur approach Victim of Change Anticipate Exponential Rate of Change Trend Focused Skate where the puck is going Becoming Future Smart Choosing a future
- 22. PossibleProbable 2020 2025 2030 The Cone of Possibilities Now Preferred
- 23. FOUR FORCES DRIVING TRENDS
- 24. SOCIAL TRENDS • Aging population • Increasing health concerns • Increasing fear of technology • Decreasing trust in our institutions • Increasing concern for climate change
- 25. TECHNOLOGY MOORE’S LAW The observation made in 1965 by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since the integrated circuit was invented. Moore predicted that this trend would continue for the foreseeable future.
- 26. TECHNOLOGY EXPONENTIAL RATE OF CHANGE Source: Kahn Academy
- 27. TECHNOLOGY Genetics Robotics Internet of Things Big Data Connected
- 28. TECHNOLOGY Cyber war becomes a growing concern Militarization of Cyberspace
- 29. FINANCE Bank alternatives grow - Paypal, micro-loans, etc. U.S. devalues its currency by 20%, China bails out Europe Banks, re-capitalized, can now afford to foreclose on non-performing loans Investment banks continue to block crowd funding of start-ups
- 30. ENVIRONMENTAL Climate change Extreme weather increases Natural gas replaces coal Water becomes a global issue
- 31. POLITICAL U.S. become an “Accidental Super Power” City-States Mega Regions Grow Government becomes more transparent Political Revolt Underway
- 32. MORE INFO Freelancing in America 2016 Survey Framework for Creating a Smart Growth Economic Development Strategy | Smart Growth | US EPA Purdue Agile Strategy Lab
- 33. SMART GROWTH
- 34. STRATEGIC DOING
- 37. THANK YOU! Dean Whittaker Whittaker Associates, Inc. 616-786-2500 dean@whittakerassociates.com www.whittakerassociates.com
Editor's Notes
- Welcome and thank you for joining us today for our discussion on Revitalizing Small Town America. More specifically we will be focusing on the future of work.
- We’ve just been given a large batch of uncertainty after yesterday’s election. However, the future is more knowable than you may think. Stay tuned.
- Using a Why, How and What approach let’s take a look at where we are going.
- What I would like for you to get out of the next 40 minutes following by our Q&A sessions is: 1. Gain an understanding of the future of work and how to use it to revitalize a small town’s economy. 2. Discuss the role of Freelancers – how to attract, grow and support them 3. Share a few helpful resources.
- I would like to tell you a story of my hometown…In the mid-60’s when I was a teenager it was a prosperous community with one major manufacturer, grocery store, clothing store, four bars, a restaurant, bank, hardware store and more. Today there are four bars…one bank and a Laundromat.
- Earlville was a small farming center in LaSalle County 75 miles west of Chicago. In the center of some of the richest farm land in the country.
- What you see is what is left of the major economic engine…manufacturing. The work done here making electric motors for furnaces is now done in Mexico.
- Growing up…the library was my refuge…and gave me a passion for learning…and sparked my imagination about “what could be.” In many ways in saved my life.
- But, most of all, we need to remember that they work you do is about people…The fellow with the beard is my brother. For the past 30 years he has earned his living “scrapping” the town and the surrounding area. He has collected and re-cycled much of the metal… old farm machinery, abandon cars, etc. Now, he re-cycles metal from a 100 mile radius. He now owns several houses and a few farms.
- Launch polls.
- Launch first poll
- So, where are we going???
- Available workforce has become the #1 driver in determining site selection for business location. People first…everything else second.
- Self-driving vehicles are remote sensors for AI. They are the eyes, ears, and touch senses of AI. The internet of Things puts sensors everywhere…our factories, our homes, and our bodies. Are you ready for that? Well, its coming.
- There are three futures: the possible, the probable and the preferred. The possible is every thing that could be. The probable is where we are headed if nothing changes, and the preferred is where we would like to end up in an ideal scenario. As we go further into the future possible outcomes expand and this is why predicting the future can be a challenge. But, remember, we already know 80% of what is going to happen…demographics for example are pretty predictable. The world has finite resources and we run out these at some point.
- Trends - Where do they come? Four Driving Forces: Resources – natural and man-made Technology – The tools we use Demographic – people Governance – how we relate to each other
- Moore’s Law has been in effect since 1965 and is predicted to continue through 2020 with the power doubling every 18-24 months and the cost drop by half.
- Finance is about to get a swift kick in the butt. Remember music sharing and how that changed the music industry? Well, the same thing is about to happen with Peer-to-Peer banking. In other words, we will send and receive payments directly without going through a bank using an encryption technology called “Block Chain.”
- My prediction that the US would become an “Accidental Super Power” because of our proximity to Mexico allowing for immigration to off set our population decline just got a jolt. Demographically, without immigration we will see a steady decline in our workforce as Boomers retire and die. Our population growth of 1.2 births does not replace us.
- Here are three sources for more information for those of you who would like to dig a little deeper.
- This framework goes a great job of looking at a traditional approach to Econ. Dev. Strategy including case studies. It relies on a top down approach. A bit old school in my mind.
- Strategic Doing is a more horizontal view – a network of networks. It asked for questions based upon an asset map of each person’s assets they are willing to share. The website contains a number of case studies using this approach and one in which I would recommend.
- For those of you are interested in learning more about trends and where we are headed here are three interesting book. Future Smart is my favorite because it teaches us that the future is a choice.
- Abundance is the antidote to fear of technology…the authors also wrote “Bold” as a follow on. They envision a world of abundance brought about by technology.
- Thank you for allowing me to share a few thoughts with you. I appreciate the opportunity. I would be glad to respond to your questions either now or via telephone or email. The work you do is very important. If I can lend a hand, please drop me a note or call.