Economic Development for the Team

Your talent amplified… If you are new to economic development - elected official, board member, volunteer, staff - you were almost certainly recruited for your experience, talent, and energy. With Economic Development for the Team you get the insight to leverage your talent in your new role. Strategies, stakeholders, programs, marketing challenges, and economic development issues provide a structure. Diagrams, visuals, and stories make concepts relatable. The built-in, easy-to-use glossary puts the acronyms and language of the profession at your fingertips. For the Team + your talent is a potent force for success.

The first two chapters build a solid foundation, laying out each aspect of the economic development environment and how an organization should go about its strategic planning, making clear the challenges and competing interests that may influence decision-making. The third chapter covers the effects of technology on strategy, operations, and process - the technology triad. The final two chapters delve into the heart of what development organizations do: their programs and the product.The book walks through the promises and pitfalls of each, what to consider and what to avoid, and illuminates the main points with spectacular successes and cautionary tales. It concludes with a full-flavored glossary that elucidates terms of art and unpacks the major concepts, fleshing out their subcategories and explaining their relevance.

Team means all of the people in and around the economic development organization, staff, Board members, volunteers, and elected officials. No one succeeds alone. Team provides a centering point, a common base of knowledge. There will still be different opinions, but a common foundation can help a group achieve a shared vision leading to success.