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May 2009

Maximizing Your Community's Assets: Try Strategic Doing

March 13, 2009 Green County (Indiana) Daily World

There are many individuals, agencies and groups of people in Greene County who are working hard on a project that will benefit Greene County residents. These projects range in scope and impact, and run the gamut from individual donations to a particular cause to larger endeavors like planning a festival. Every one of these activities has a positive impact on our community.

Wouldn't it be wonderful, though, if all of the various activities could be identified and their progress communicated to each of the other active partners? Then we could work more harmoniously, not duplicating any effort, and become more targeted and efficient.

Well, someone thought about that and came up with a solution. Ed Morrison is a member of the staff of the Center for Regional Development at Purdue University and Economic Policy Advisor for the WIRED initiative in north-central Indiana. Ed has developed a new model for economic development: Open Source Economic Development. The model promotes the development of open innovation systems ("clusters") to accelerate regional development.

Ed visited Greene County this week to introduce GCEDC staff and other community partners involved in the HomeTown Competitiveness core team to the Open Source concept and to demonstrate its ability to go beyond strategic planning and to stimulate strategic "doing" (also known as strategic action.)

What could we do together? In Ed Morrison's white paper, Strategic Doing: The Art & Practice of Strategic Action in Open Networks, he states, "As we move into the world of networks, we need to find new ways of thinking together ... Networks are different. In a world of open networks, strategy becomes the art of guiding purposeful conversations. Effective strategy translates ideas into action quickly, so we can learn what works."

"Strategic doing is a set of principles, practices and disciplines for implementing strategy in a network ... It guides strategy across organizational and political boundaries with a discipline to build collaborations quickly. Strategic doing answers four questions:

  • What could we do together?
  • What should we do together? 
  • What will we do together? 
  • How will we learn together?

Sounds simple, yet, it is not easy ... it takes practice. Once we learn the discipline of strategic doing ... we can move ideas into action quickly."

Strategic doing is also a skill that we can teach to others, once we have learned it ourselves. So, strategic doing is low cost and scalable (and flexible). It can become a convenient framework for igniting and managing creative collaborations. ... It becomes how we get stuff done when we venture outside the four walls of our own organizations."

It starts with agreeing "to behave toward each other in ways that build trust and mutual respect."

Ed shared the analogy of a person sitting on the beach planning how to navigate across the water to a buoy. That individual can spend a great deal of time planning their course from the beach to the buoy.

The problem is that, by the time they have developed their plan and no matter how well thought out it is, it will be defunct. By that time, the conditions, such as the wind, waves, currents and other impacting factors, have changed. Strategic Doing is getting in the boat and starting to paddle, looking up periodically to assess the status and redirect the bearings to ensure that you get to the buoy, because it's all about getting to the target.

Well, having experienced the training in action and the results it produced, the Greene County "trainees" were sold. We decided to try this different approach, so we can learn to deal with complex issues with simple (not simplistic) solutions. As we get comfortable using this method, then we hope to share it with other community partners.

The issues Greene County has to deal with are no less complex than the issues a major city has to deal with. Things like increasing unemployment, poverty, affordable housing, transportation, decreasing revenues, etc. It's just that we have far less resources, so it becomes crucial that we maximize what we have, especially our time, energy and efforts. The Open Source method allows us to "bite off only what we can chew" at any given point in time, and to work together to make significant impacts quickly. I'll share more once we've practiced a bit.

Source:  NCI Wired Newsletter.  

Report on ILED Events around the State

The Capital Innovators hosted their monthly Discovery Luncheon on April 7 in Jackson. The featured speakers were Gary and Carol Vincent, of the Mississippi Media Group, the Clarksdale-based company that launched Ground Zero Blues Club Music.  The program also included a service provider presentation from Jill Beneke, of Pileum Corporation.

The East Mississippi Regional Innovation Partners and the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation hosted a Discovery Breakfast on April 14 in Meridian featuring presentations on technology, entrepreneurship and capital.  Speakers included Dr. Joe Fanguy, of Mississippi State University; Robert Smith, of Glass Incorporated; and Dr. Randy Goldsmith, of the Mississippi Technology Alliance.

The Delta Regional Innovation Partners and the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce hosted a Discovery Luncheon on April 14 in Cleveland. The featured speakers were Ed Johnson, director of the Washington County Economic Development Center, and Matt Peterson, of InTime in Cleveland.

The Delta Regional Innovation Partners and the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce hosted a Discovery Luncheon on April 15 in Greenwood.  The featured speakers were Wayne Harris and Beverly Mims, of State Bank & Trust.

The Northeast Regional Innovation Coordination Partners and the Oxford-Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation hosted a Discovery Luncheon on April 15 in Oxford.  Speakers included Dr. Walt Chambliss, of The University of Mississippi’s Division of Technology Management; Drs. Bill Rayburn and Dennis Tosh, of FNC, Inc.; and Dr. Mick Kolossa, of MME, LLC.  Stacey Gaines also presented an update on the Mississippi Angel Network and the Mississippi Seed Fund.

Dr. Walt Chambliss, Dr. Mick Kolossa, Dr. Dennis Tosh, Allyson Best, Dr. Bill Rayburn and Max Hipp are pictured at the Discovery Luncheon in Oxford.

The Pine Belt Innovators joined Noetic Technologies in presenting the Invent Your Future! Business Plan Competition in Hattiesburg on April 28.  Noetic presented $20,000 in cash prizes to help the winning teams launch their businesses.  First place was awarded to Ru Catalysts Technologies, LLC.  Reactive Optics captured second prize and The Anderson Capsule won third place.

Upcoming Events:

ILED Training

The Mississippi Technology Alliance will conduct a professional ILED training session for East Central Mississippi Economic Council members on May 18 from 2-4 p.m. at East Central Community College in Philadelphia.  Click here for more information.

Capital Innovators Discovery Luncheons

The Capital Innovators will host Discovery Luncheons on June 9, July 14, August 4, September 1 and October 6.  The luncheons are held from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the University Club in Downtown Jackson.  Program details and registration are updated monthly on the Mississippi Technology Alliance website.

Innovators Hall of Fame Awards Gala

The Mississippi Technology Alliance will host the Second Annual Innovators Hall of Fame Awards Gala on Tuesday, June 2 at the Jackson Marriott.  The event will honor Jim Barksdale with the Mississippi Innovators Legends Award and induction into the Mississippi Innovators Hall of Fame.  Also being inducted into the Hall of Fame are Viking Range Founder Fred Carl, former NASA Astronaut Fred Haise and University of Mississippi Medical Center Medical Pioneer Dr. James D. Hardy, posthumously.  The Edward Lowe Foundation’s 2009 Mississippi Companies to Watch will be announced at the Gala. Click here for tickets and table sponsorship information. 

MTA Business Plan Competition

The Mississippi Technology Alliance will present a Mississippi Business Plan Competition on Tuesday, June 2 at the Jackson Marriott.  Competitors can win up to $5,000 and have the chance to pitch their innovation-based venture to investors.

The Business Plan Competition is open to Mississippi innovation and technology entrepreneurs, student-led companies and university affiliated companies.  Companies can be start-ups or existing companies with a new venture opportunity, but the new venture must be innovation-based.  Innovation-based ventures derive their primary business from proprietary products, processes, or business systems – whether protected by intellectual property or not.  For existing companies, judging will be based solely on the new venture opportunity.  Monetary prizes will be presented in each category. 

Participants will be screened for the competition based on an executive summary created from an online questionnaire.  Judging at the June 2 event will be based on the executive summary and the team’s live PowerPoint presentation.  Judges for the competition will include angel investors and select entrepreneurs.

To enter the competition, visit www.technologyalliance.ms/business-plan-competition/index.php to complete the online questionnaire and review the judging criteria.  The deadline for applications is May 15.  For more information, contact LaTasha Bibb at 601-960-3610 or tbibb@mta.ms.

Newsletter Spotlight:  East Central RIC Highlights

  Dr. Joe Fanguy

Through activities in Starkville, Meridian, Philadelphia, and Columbus, the East Central RIC team has started building consensus for Innovation-Led Economic Development in East Central Mississippi:

  • Connecting People - More than 150 individuals have participated in networking events such as the Discovery Breakfast, Power Lunch, and a Fuels of the Future Event, each of which featured both regional entrepreneurs and innovations.
  • Identifying Capital - Initial steps toward establishing a regional capital coalition have been successful through the initiation of angel investor meetings, which are ongoing in both Starkville and Meridian.
  • Providing Educational Opportunities - Regional programs such as ILED 101, a SBIR/STTR Conference, and FastTrac have allowed economic developers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to acquire and develop skills so they can impact Innovation-Led Economic Development in Mississippi.

For more information about RIC activities in East Central Mississippi, contact Dr. Joe Fanguy, assistant director of technology commercialization at Mississippi State University.
Mississippi Technology Alliance  •  134 Market Ridge Drive •  Ridgeland, MS 39157  •  Phone: 601-960-3610  •  Fax: 601-960-3605