Another Minor Musing To Add To The Conversation About Attracting Talent

Artist Hugh MacLeod heaps praise on Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a film about an 85 year old sushi chef.

MacLeod reports that Jiro

kept it REALLY sim­ple: a sin­gle, TINY, 10-seater res­tau­rant in a sub­way sta­tion in Tokyo.

Why did he do it that way? Because he wasn’t inte­res­ted in money, he was inte­res­ted in the MASTERY of his cho­sen craft. The big­ger he made his res­tau­rant busi­ness, the less time he would have to spend on his TRUE calling, making sushi.

MacLeod later writes,

He wasn’t in it for the money, he was in it because it allo­wed him to strive for perfection.

In a world that often rewards money and office poli­tics over mas­tery, maybe more mediocre peo­ple get to drive fancy cars, live in big hou­ses and wear a lot of bling, but something is lost in the pro­cess. And we are the poo­rer for it.

Jiro reminds us that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can achieve mas­tery, or at least aim for it, if you decide to. [bold in the original]

If Rural America truly seeks to attract talent, smaller communities should seek ways to allow talented people to strive for perfection rather than emphasize tax breaks for a hog feedlot.

Some Minor Musings To Add To The Conversation About Attracting Talent

At Reimagine Rural, Mike Knutson wants to start a conversation about attracting talent to Rural America.  The ever-loquacious Mr. Heidelberger takes up the conversation here.

Both Cory and Mike reference a a 2008 Wisconsin survey that ranks young people's priorities of attractive elements in a new community.  According to the lists, everyone seems to want to go to places that are affordable and have good schools along with places for family.

To continue to conversation, I'll add one element to the lists Cory publishes: a chance to be creative.

For evidence, I'll offer John Siegel and Victoria Croasdell-Siegl of  New Leipzig, North Dakota.  The couple bought the community's school and use it as a home and workshop for their business, MRISAR, a company which

design[s] and fabricate[s] innovative, interactive exhibits that are featured in world class science centers, museums, universities, NASA-funded exhibitions and by the film and movie industries for inclusion in media productions.

Recently, Leveno hired the company "to create a custom robotic prototype to animate their newest computer for its public release . . . ."  It's a long way from New Leipzig to Las Vegas where Leveno unveiled their computer.  One can safely assume that the only thing that New Leipzig and Las Vegas share is that what happens there stays there.

The couple moved to New Leipzig, population 221, for several reasons:

1. Clean air and water
2. Accessibility and connection to nature.
3. A workable growing climate.
4. Community and government receptivity to [h]umanitarian & [e]nvironmental projects.
5. Community and government receptivity to [e]ducational, [s]cientific, and [a]rtistic projects.
6. Community and government receptivity to the creation of environmentally responsible light industries that would create products to help humanity and the environment and create technology and creatively based jobs and promote workers health and welfare.
7. Community and government receptivity to the creation of projects that aid the local school systems, inspire the youth, help the poor, promote self improvement, encourage people to develop their potential creatively, academically, and through community creative and environmental projects.[emphasis mine]

Schools, safety, and a family friendly environment are certainly important, but MRISAR shows that the opportunity to be creative can also draw talent.

Whither Rural Wealth?

The Front Porch Republic links to  this Daily Yonder post about a southern Ohio effort to move from logging to value added and eco-friendly wood production.  As a creature of the Plains, I know little about logging and forests, so I won't comment about the particulars.  These paragraphs from early in the article seem spot on.

It’s pretty clear that old approaches to rural development (like issuing tax breaks to attract factories) don’t work all that well – but what else is there?

A lot of folks all over the country have been working on that question, and a group involved with the Ford Foundation has been trying to pull it all together and explain emerging practices as a single process. This group of Ford folks didn’t invent something new. They have tried to explain an approach to development and to create a system for how communities can better themselves and their economies.

We can call it a “wealth creation approach” to development.

Instead of trying to “attract” jobs over which rural communities have little control, this approach is about creating durable livelihoods by developing the assets that rural places do control. That includes natural assets like forests, farms, and wind rights as well as workers’ skills, social networks, and innovation. When rural communities develop these assets in response to market demand, when they connect with urban areas in ways that benefit both places, and when they focus on creating multiple kinds of wealth – that’s when they begin to create wealth and livelihoods that benefit rural places over the long haul.

It does strike me that South Dakota's political leadership hasn't gotten the memo that attracting factories may not be the best way to build "durable livelihoods."  Further, I can't remember the last time I heard any South Dakota Political leaders discussing "developing natural assets like forests, farms, and wind rights as well as workers’ skills, social networks, and innovation."  I guess they don't remember Joni Mitchell's warning in "Big Yellow Taxi."

 They must have missed the irony in the pop nature of this Counting Crows cover too.