What Makes an Effective Regional Economic Development Leader?

In a study released by the Council on Competiveness, the researchers try to answer the complicated question: "Why are some regions more successful than others in global competition?"

The traditional paradigm of regional development focuses the endowment of innovation assets (i.e. people institutions, capital and infrastructure). Regions abundant in these assets were built to succeed in the global knowledge economy. In contrast, less successful regions fail due to a lack of innovation assets. This study, however, argues that the ability to think, plan and act regionally is the real driving force behind developing a successful region.

To act regionally, there are many obstacles that must be overcome. The council study specifically focuses on one particular barrier: the fact that "economic regions and political jurisdictions are not coterminous." There are no governance structures, boundaries or lines of authority that create order within the region. Cities, counties, towns and even states have competing interests, different identities and cultural traditions that make collaborating extremely difficult. Many regions, the researchers argue, still fall under the traditional paradigm that "our next door neighbors" are the competition and recruiting firms from outside is the mission. In essence, these actors have no reason to connect unless brought together by cause (e.g. overarching environmental issues or similar economic hardship) or regional leadership.

The study found that the first step to rectify this issue is relying on existing regional organizations that can set agendas, call meetings, recruit new leaders, etc. These organizations provide the basis of developing a regional collaboration structure that will allow the new regional leadership to fuel conversation, create connections and utilize regional capacity. Leaders, however, must effectively harness those "three Cs"to develop regional collaboration.

Using five case studies, the researchers developed the "three Cs" to explain the existence of successful regional collaboration citing several drastically different cases ranging from Silicon Valley to the Dan River Region in Virginia. They found that successful leaders were able to create conversations among key regional stakeholders that enriched and intensified regional awareness. Planned or unplanned, these conversations forged ties and built trust. The second C is connection. An integral aspect collaboration is linking together the region. The development of face-to-face or virtual networks can perpetuate of collaboration and fuel innovation. Finally, the leveraging of regional assets to build regional capacity was found by the researchers to be a common theme among successful collaborations.

The paper argues that collaborations and the "three Cs" can be achieved only through effective regional leadership. They cite several examples that technology and regional innovation assets alone cannot create a regional brand or regional prosperity. Even Silicon Valley had to strengthen its regional leadership in the 1990s to achieve success. A region without successful leaders still will act fragmented and fall back in the traditional paradigms of economic development.

In developing the seven "habits" of highly effective regional leadership, the council took into account the personal qualities of individual leadership and nature of regional leadership. They analyzed leadership traits and situations that occurred in the five case studies and previous research to develop this list:

1. Be proactive: "anticipate needs and create strategies to address them";

2. Begin with the end in mind: "regions need a vision for where they are heading, and it must be supported by consensus";

3. Seek first to understand, then to be understood: Leaders must understand their region before creating their vision and strategy;

4. Put first things first: "Leaders, when leading action, need to be guardians of the big picture";

5. Think win-win, be inclusive: "always seek opportunities to make a case for regionalism and promote inclusion";

6. Synergize: regions are a fertile field in which to grow synergies because they are at the cross where institutions intersect; and,

7. Sharpen the saw: "This habit involves two kinds of activities, developing metrics and developing future leadership"

The report provides three pieces of advice for practitioners. First, regional leadership is "not a one size fits all proposition."Due to the diversity of each region, leadership must develop a strategy that creates collaboration among stakeholders. Second, it admonishes leaders to "do something, anything!" Regional leadership must work at creating regionalism. Finally, regional leadership requires organizations that keep regionalism alive. Temporary organizations can help advance causes, but it is necessary to have an ongoing intermediary organization to perpetuate collaboration.

Read the entire report at: http://www.compete.org/publications/detail/1384/leading-regional-innovation-clusters/.

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