Foothills Digest - Fox & Hound Article - Fall 2018

I haven't gotten these out as fast as I had hoped. I will have the next one out in short order. We are now past halfway on the ones that are available. The following is the fifth Fox and Hound Article from the Foothills Digest. It is the fourth article in which I collaborated with Gabriel Sherwood. The topic focuses on 'How do we Inspire our community and set it up in the best position possible to grow. Like I said, this is a marketplace and it is a 3D multilevel Chess Board. There should be a plan for community development and from that there will be desired outcomes and with that there will be intended and unintended consequences. There will be the seen and the unseen. How do we embrace change and inspire innovation? How do we bring back the Entrepreneurial spirit that our community was founded and built upon? We need to have a broad scope and we must set ourselves up to be in an adaptable position in an ever changing landscape.

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So, this is the fifth edition of the Foothills Digest and the Fox and the Hound. Thank You Carmen for affording us a platform for a discussion of issues that are vital to our area. This initial thread has been related to fostering Economic Growth in our area. We have discussed Plan Creation and Implementation, Vision, the Marketplace, and Leveraging Unique strengths. Now we discuss how to attract Millennials to our community, because we have lost many from the younger generation and they are vital to the growth of our region’s communities. How do we inspire innovation and change?

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(The Hickory Hound: Thom Shell Intro)
In my last article, I discussed the nature of the Millennial generation and how they have become the most vital cog in the American Economic Engine, as the largest demographic representative in terms of labor and consumption. Millennials have moved to major metropolitan areas, because that is where they can earn the most money and enjoy life. Statistical information shows that Millennials earn their highest income versus cost of living (1) in the San Francisco Metropolitan area. Raleigh is ranked #14 on the list.

In this era of constant change, the major metropolitan areas in our nation have been more resilient in dealing with economic upheaval, because they have larger economies of scale. Where a smaller community may be driven by one major industry, these larger metro areas are much more economically diverse with multiple major businesses in multiple business sectors. The loss of a major business in a large metro can certainly cause stress, but it isn’t going to break the community. An individual living in a large community, who finds themselves displaced, can more easily find a job within that community; whereas in a smaller community, they might just have to move.

It used to be that almost all children would earn more than their parents had at any particular age. Today, that number is around 50 percent (2). Much of the economic flux we have faced in our country can be attributed to what the 20th century Austrian Economist Joseph Schumpeter (3), one of the founding theorists on Entrepreneurship, termed Creative Destruction. Creative Destruction occurs when innovation deconstructs long-standing arrangements and frees resources to be deployed elsewhere. Schumpeter saw innovation as the driving force of the marketplace through Capitalism. He believed that the innovation and technological change of a nation comes from its entrepreneurs, or “wild spirits.” Innovation is progress driven by competition.

In talking about Economic Regeneration, “Change” is at the forefront of economic reality. The economy on every level of human existence has always evolved. Whereas, in the past, it could take years for things to change, now our economy changes drastically from day-to-day. We must embrace change and learn how to operate and thrive in such an environment. The alternative? Embracing stagnation... No thanks!

What Schumpeter was getting at relates to creativity. We are living in an age that is defined by creativity, much more so than the preceding Industrial Age. Our present economy has been defined as a “Creative Economy.” Millennials, as a “Free Spirited” generation, like to define themselves by their creativity, being different, and having unique personalities. They want help implementing creative ideas and recognition for successes. Companies that facilitate this way of thinking will be the most successful. We have to know that this creative capacity can be used to a community’s advantage. This mindset benefits us all! How can we cultivate this energy?

Young people want careers and want their work to have meaning. They want a better world and to associate with good business practices. Most don’t want to waste their lives in a cubicle in an organization that is deeply resistant to change. There are so many career options for the best and the brightest. And isn’t “Best and Brightest” what you want in a community?

The answer to community growth is to attract Millennials. How we do this is pretty much up for debate. Attracting this creative generation will lead to the “Wild Spirit” of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship and that should be the endgame.

(1) The 25 places where millennials make the most money - The Exponent (Purdue University) – July 18, 2018
(2) The Fading American Dream - Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940 – Equality of Opportunity Project – February 2017
(3) Innovation and Entrepreneurship – The Austrian Economist Joseph A. Schumpeter – The Austrian Embassy – March 27, 2015

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(The Fox: Gabriel Sherwood Intro)
Millennials will overtake the Boomers as the most populous generation in 2019 we hear, with 73 million citizens falling into that age range (1). Though they only outnumber Generation X by 6 million or so, youth and even slightly superior numbers will allow the Millennials to shape the economic and cultural landscape of our nation for the next 50 years. How well regions recruit younger industries and the citizens that power them will dictate growth potential as all involved.

Luckily, we have some forward thinking leadership locally and some of our plans have been focused on ensuring the Foothills and Western Piedmont Regions get our share of what will be an expanding and enduring economic base. Good things are happening around us, and positive changes have been made to infrastructure and access. If we are to maximize on our Millennial marketability, though, then must continue to look for ideas to support the younger citizens that attract the younger businesses. We have advantages that only need minor adjustments and investments, and some inspiration to change a mindset, to generate opportunity for responsible growth.

Millennials are trending towards public and shared forms of transportation, and though people of all ages are driving less, right now over 30% of 19 year olds in the US don’t have licenses to drive. This is a new reality and will drive certain folks to the more developed regions by necessity, so how can we inspire the needed changes in transit options? What helped create and facilitate the car culture that swept the US in the latter half of the 20th Century?

Millennials are also steering the markets towards more sustainable lifestyles and socially equitable opportunities. By 2025 they could comprise over 70% of the workforce and polling within the generation shows 87% would be loyal to companies that are socially and economically diverse and responsible (2). So, how do we market ourselves as socially and economically responsible and how do we capitalize on our diversity? And what has helped finance many of the innovations that make our lives cleaner and greener each day?

The answer to both: public investment and shared innovation with the private sector brought about much of the amenities of the modern world, and we have the infrastructure and economic capacity to continue to do it here. The Eisenhower Administration used huge tax rates to fund the interconnecting of our nation with the highway system and created millions of recurring jobs nationally, while reshaping our culture for two generations. Locally we can use that example and invest liberally in the expansion of the Greenway system and spread a wider net of low cost transportation access with a responsible brand.

The 50’s and 60’s also saw one of the largest expansions of public education in Human history, which provided a great deal of the Human capital and intellectual enterprise among the Boomers and Generation X, as well as educated tradespeople in many fields. Now, we need the same locally for Millennial marketing … and we have an opportunity to get back to that with the K64 approach currently making its way to activity at CVCC and elsewhere around us (3). It is a development model that focuses on the pathway from early education all the way to retirement after years of continuing education.

You get what you pay for in most places and investment in a nation's own citizens rarely bears a loss. This is one reason Forbes ranked the US the 12th best nation for business, while 9 of the first 11 are Democratic Socialist nations that invest far more in infrastructure and education while regulating the extremes of the Capitalist system that some of them invented to ensure equitable access and opportunity to all, and the other two are Communist Capitalists we shouldn’t consider as great role models (4).

The United States will never be these places, and our ways of doing things must recognize the diversity of our vast land and the input of all our people … but no matter where you go if you have eclectically educated citizens with a way to get to work you are going to have the engine to drive innovation and help to inspire change in the private sector. The better we are at those things in our region, the more successful we will be at our recruiting and retention goals for companies and people of the next generation.

1. Millennials expected to overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation - Pew Research - March 1st, 2018
2. The Millennial Consumer: A Driving Force for Corporate Sustainability - Ecosphere - January 2, 2018
3. K-64 Learning Homepage - 2017
4. Best Countries for Business in 2017 - Forbes - January, 2018

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Gabriel response to Thom
Like the whale oil hunters of old, miners of coal in the US now, and anyone who’s job can be done by a robot over the next decades, the old giving way to the new is in overdrive for post industrial economies. With processors changing every six months, and new phones out nearly yearly, our commercialism is often as fickle as our pop-culture. What needs can we count on to be consistently relevant in the next 50 years, though, and what kind of jobs should we be looking for if we want our kids to make more than us right here?

Other than jobs in education, which offer a redundant investment in a local economy, and which millennials are attracted to if funded, 3 of the top 5 “Best Jobs for Millennials” involve computer software design, web development, and systems analysis (1). All of these are creative, all of these are potentially generational industries, and they can all be recruited if we can show them we have the people and infrastructure to support their needs.

We know all those industries from local experience already, and we know we have what they need, but there are social considerations that can hamper creativity as well as the desire for workers and industries to join us. Extremes in social issues turn away Millennials, and areas dominated by certain views will inexorably filter those energies and outlooks into the “Footloose Syndrome” for the young of the area and others who may want to join us.

There is a lesson in the numbers of the last presidential contest. A popular meme we see on social media references the 2,649 counties won by President Trump as opposed to the 503 counties won by Secretary Clinton. Those 503 counties that leaned more Liberal than Conservative held 64% of our economic output in 2016 (2).

If we really are prepared to work for economic progress, and towards a “Wild Spirit” of Creativity from a younger generation that holds progressive ideas, then we might have to let some of our region’s aging political and social mindsets be changed out in the next installment of creative destruction this November.

1 - US News and World Report - The 10 Best Jobs for Millenials - October, 2017
2. Brookings Institute - High Output America vs. Low Output America - November, 2016



Answer to your question:

Responsible growth to me includes understanding the needed balance between the public and private, not allowing extreme inequalities to form between neighborhoods and/or social classes, understanding that all people and roles are needed in a healthy economy and that all should be respected, and that there are some sectors of our economy that must be understood to be investments in the future rather than profit sources now.

In his book: “Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy” Schumpeter also wrote of his agreement with Marx that Capitalism would collapse, but instead of Marx’s Proletarian Revolution, Schumpeter asserted that highly successful Capitalism would eventually give way to Corporatism and the diminishment of the individual based business in favor of monopolies.

In his vision the voting majorities would have no choice but to vote themselves into Socialism in order to survive income and class inequality that the market won’t regulate alone. And here with a third of the nation ready to take us back to 90% tax rates and hamper innovation and creativity while another third are following a Neo-Fascist whose policies are driving us further towards state corporatism, it’s easy to see why Schumpeter is seen as an Einstein of Economics.

To prevent this we must invest. In addition to recruiting tech jobs and continuing to modernize our manufacturing sector, we can find ourselves a beacon for young talent whose job it is to inspire the youth of our region and state. We have a wide base of education professionals here, with many of them aging now and in need of good replacements.

I say if we want to attract Millennials with jobs that matter; with jobs that will offer a base of economic stability to them and our area over a career; with jobs in which it is partly the purpose to cultivate the creativity of our area … educator rings a bell.

The NC General Assembly isn’t helping us in that regard because I know young teachers who have left for Texas to get paid, taking our future creativity with them. We can get some back though, or recruit others, because another way to get young people to stay is to let them see they have a voice in their community.

This election cycle there is change to be sure, as candidates driven by Millennial issues have risen to run from all walks of life in our county and state elections.

Make sure your voice is heard in November everyone ...

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Thom’s response to Gabriel
Gabriel, I agree with much of what you say, but some of your conclusions show purely political biases. Trump isn’t a neo-fascist. To the point, because it has little to do with the thread of this conversation, Conservatism has plenty of support among Millennials. Time Magazine, not exactly a bastion of conservatism, points this out in an article – “Young Americans Are Actually Not Becoming More Progressive” – August 22, 2017 – Jean M. Twenge. The article delves into the political nature of today’s younger generations… “Individualism has also led iGen and Millennials to favor one thing above all else in politicians: Authenticity. Individualism promotes “come as you are” and “just be yourself,” and iGen’ers want their candidates to be — or at least seem — unwavering in their personal beliefs.””

As we both agree, technological advances are coming rapidly. Technology is second nature to the Millennials and the following “iGeneration (iGen)” -- named for their use of iPhones and interfacing with technology. According to Public Relations Society of America, the Great Recession taught IGen to be independent, and has led to an entrepreneurial desire, after seeing their parents and older siblings struggle in the workforce. (1)

I agree with you on the issues of social acceptance of the young person’s mindset. I have a friend who is in his 70s and works for a local fabric design firm in our area. The company has a staff that consists of many Millennial aged women. These young women are choosing to live outside the area, many in Asheville. They say they roll up the streets at night in Hickory and they want to enjoy some nightlife.

So what are issues I think we can agree on that the younger generations are facing that need our societal focus and attention? 1) Burdensome college debt 2) Underemployment for America’s most educated generation 3) Unable to afford housing independence 4) Financial Fragility 5) Fewer and fewer Millennials are becoming Entrepreneurs 6) Mental Stress and Depression. (2)

Younger people have a desire to be entrepreneurs, but their financial fragility, due to college debt and not having enough income to save, is limiting their capacity to own businesses. If we as a community can come up with ways to help these young people move forward with some of their dreams and to get established, then we can get some of them live here instead of the big cities. That will lead to growth as those seeds are cultivated into the future stakeholders and cornerstones of our community.

(1) Move Over Millennials, Here Comes Generation Z: Understanding the 'New Realists' Who Are Building the Future". Public Relations Tactics. Public Relations Society of America. 12/10/2015
(2) The 10 Most Serious Problems Faced By Millennials – BestWork Inc.