Hickory needs Real Transformation

I just finished reading Joshua Cooper Ramo's book - The Age of the Unthinkable - Why the New World Disorder Surprises Us and What Can We Do About It. Rick Smyre, our Future Economy Council Mentor, suggested it as a way to gain comprehension of the current context of the world around us and the role we play in it.

After reading the book, I decided to jot down some thoughts on how this book might relate to the current state of Hickory. I think that our leaders can get a lot out of this book. You do have to cut to the chase after winding through the soliloquies of Mr. Ramo's travels, but the message is consistent. As he states in his summaries towards the end of the book, "There are moments, and this is one of them, when we are not spectators to history but participants." We do not have to choose to be passive participants in this world, as individuals we can make changes and when those changes are made, they will lead to results that are greater than the sum of their parts.

I truly believe that Hickory's leadership has tried to do what they believe is best for the community. They have been very innovative in ways that they have limited expenses in our city's budget. During the drought, they promoted and began selling rain barrels as an alternative way to water vegetation, they used leaves and other refuse to create a composting facility, and they have consolidated the region's interests in our water resources by becoming the regional operator and provider of water.

But, for years many of these same leaders have gone too far, by trying to hoard control and that has, in my opinion, stifled the creative and innovative energies that are needed to progress. Many of these individuals seem to think that their answers are best, their solutions should be policy, and that if the regular folks will just fall in line, then we can move forward. What they fail to recognize is if no one follows, then they aren't leading. We need leaders that will get local citizens, who have felt disenfranchised and are therefore ambivalent, to buy into our transformation.

As Ramo states, "We owe everything to Human Creativity." "We need to empower as much of the world as we can, even if at times that means encouraging forces that make us uneasy at first glance." Our leaders need to decentralize the power in this area and I know that it is going to be hard to get some people to buy into that philosophy. It seems that we are not trusting the average person in this area, that they are basically being called uneducated or ignorant. I just ask our leaders, "Do you really think you have all the answers?"

I have read and listened for months about how the Hickory Metro Area's problems are not our fault, we have no control, that it is all caused by Raleigh and Washington. I think that there is nothing wrong with a leader (or anyone) admitting that they don't know what the solutions are, but there has to be something that can be done. We cannot afford to spend endless years of abrogating the issues we can control involving our economic plight.

You want an example. Last month we heard the Mayor, City Manager, and City Council talk a good game about this Small Business Job Growth Team. Why has this not gotten off the ground yet? This was discussed at the City Council Meeting on May 5, 2009. It sure seems to me that this admittedly great idea has been a ruse. If this is so important, then why is it taking upwards of six weeks to get the people onboard to get it started. It is just sad that this seems like it is not being taken seriously -- One word, ACTION!!!

Once again we apparently can't find people to serve, why? Could it be that we have too many of these commissions? Could it be that the upper echelons of Hickory's leadership want to fully control the process and its outcome? Could it be that when they agree to their findings that the City Officials don't act on them and go off in their own direction of personal self interest? How many times have we seen exactly that happen before?

I have personally been flat out told that the reason people don't serve is because City Officials are not willing to listen. They basically want people to wrap their (the leadership's) views up in a neat little package, so that they can present them as "The People's Idea." When the leadership does not like the task force's findings, and then they take the ball and run in a different direction, then the participants feel disenfranchised and no longer want to participate in any city processes. That folks, is what has led to the ambivalence we find amongst the go-getters and movers and shakers in this community. Have you noticed that our developers are taking their monies and influence to the fringes of Hickory (Granite Falls, Conover, Claremont). Hmmm, I wonder why that has happened?

It is time to get people to buy in. Joshua Cooper Ramo displays, in this book, ways that we can get people to buy in and collaborate. It is not a blueprint, because innovation cannot be defined and the future is naturally ambiguous. There are no magic bullets and we cannot shape life into the neat little package that we want, but we can have influence over it. That influence can be good or bad. There are reasons why this community is in desperate economic straights. We cannot see our community at the bottom of unemployment numbers in the nation and absolve ourselves of any blame.

Past and current leadership has laid the foundation that we now stand upon. Not all of it is bad and some of it is excellent, but we most certainly need to improve the structure. It is time to build a new foundation and there are ideas out there that will help us do that. I hope that you, as individuals or as a group, will get this book and think about the implications of what Mr. Ramo espouses. We must renew the Can Do spirit that originally built this community and unleash its full potential as we work to rebuild a more sure footed and stronger foundation designed for a brighter and more positive future.