Business
The City of Central Chamber of Commerce C4 Report – Leadership
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We’ve been looking at the five facets of economic development that must be considered if growth is to continue to take place. Those facets are: Workforce Education, Infrastructure, Leadership, Business Industry, and Recruitment.
So far we’ve considered the aspect of Workforce Education and Infrastructure. In review, education in a community and economic development go hand in hand! Education must exists that can prepare both the college graduate professionals and a highly skilled and in demand workforce. The creation of a strong and vibrant workforce is essential to the economic development and stability of our region. Commitment to infrastructure through the development of roads, sewer and water systems, communications, IT, schools, ports and hospitals is vital to our future. Failure to invest in infrastructure means a failure to sustain and develop our social and economic wellbeing.
Now we turn our attention to the development of leadership. Volumes could be and have been written on this topic. However, for the sake of time and space, I will keep it brief. Leadership is the ability one has to have influence over individuals or organizations in order to lead them in a particular direction. Visionaries, who can embrace the current circumstances and come up with a plan, but who also can see past those circumstances and look ahead to what is needed, are essential to economic growth and stability. Take the two items of economic development previously mentioned. Without quality leadership, the development of workforce education and proper infrastructure cannot be accomplished.
Over the last several years, Central has been blessed to have such visionary leaders at our disposal. Thus we have The City of Central, The Central Community School System, and a developing and increasing commerce community. However, as we continue to grow, the need for developing more visionary leaders must be met.
Programs, such as, The Leader in Me, Leadership North, LSU Mobile Classroom sponsored by the SBDC, and various other sources are available to our community. As well as supporting these fine programs, The City of Central Chamber of Commerce is exploring the possibility of launching other leadership initiatives in 2014. Our ability, in our community, to produce visionary and proactive leaders will go a long way to securing our future success in the economic arena.
Ron Erickson
President – Central Chamber of Commerce
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