This post is a little off the traditional Tru Mark Trail Blazing Blog entry, yet important to leadership in our industry and the communities we live and work in.

http://www.wfs.org/futurist/july-august-2012-vol-46-no-4/building-and-connecting-communities-for-future

Attending the Veterans Memorial Park grand opening (06/30/12) brought back some incredible memories playing many baseball games on the now transformed baseball complex. I can remember riding in my grandfather Hall's horse and buggy as part of the parade celebrating Norfolk's 100th anniversary. In another 4 years we'll be celebrating Norfolk's 150th anniversary. How does this connect to the title?

Not yet a teenager, could I have ever envision how our community, state, nation, and the world would have changed? I was lucky in many respects, learned the value of working hard (and smarter) and the importance of education (life long learning), a supportive family, and exposure to many different communities and leaders around the country and world.

Now I think about my children and future (hopefully) grandchildren future's in this ever acceleration rate of our changing world. This really came to the forefront when I was reintroduced to Norfolk in 2000 after being gone 25 years through the Leadership Norfolk program. As part of this program a specific individual, Rick Smyre, President, Communities of the Future, touched my life and mind and got me thinking differently from military trained leadership models.

From this introduction and working with others in and outside our community a community visioning process was developed and carried out, the Visioning 2026 Project (www.Visioning2026.com. Engaging over 200 community leaders through a variety of learning and dialogue sessions I learned that making changes in a community is a long term process with lots of starts and stops along the way. I have continued my connection with Rick Smyre and many of his associates around the world. The many leaderships and learning techniques that he "tried on us" has come to fruition through a variety of avenues to include economic and community development initiatives.

A recent article, Building and Connecting Communities for the Future,  published in the World Future Society's, The Futurist , A Magazine of Forecasts, Trends, and Ideas of the Future, is energizing my thinking about the future.
http://www.wfs.org/futurist/july-august-2012-vol-46-no-4/building-and-connecting-communities-for-future

Leading up to Norfolk's 150th anniversary is again a excellent time to look to the future. Although typically only a few in our community have the formal title of Economic Developer, I would suggest that all leaders have important roles in the support of economic and community development. The proposition is in front of us, what will we do and what is our part in the future? How will I help our community thrive in the next 10, 25, 50 years?

"The role of an economic developer is, itself, in transformation. No longer merely a recruiter of business and industry, a twenty-first-century economic developer will need to become a futurist as well as a facilitator of connections of ideas, people, and processes in comprehensive community transformation. As Christopher Meyer and Stan Davis argued in It’s Alive (Crown Business, 2003):

Connectivity in the environment has accelerated change and increased the volatility in the business environment. Business must respond with more rapid and varied adaptation, and will experience fewer periods of stability in which efficiency is the dominant source of economic health."