From Foresight, Vol. 5, No. 4
published 1998
Nearly 300 people from across the Commonwealth were on hand for the fifth annual conference of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, which was held at the Radisson Hotel in Lexington on November 16 and 17. This year’s conference, entitled "The Leadership Challenge Ahead," was a two-day event, including a half-day, November 16 workshop on "civic entrepreneurship," followed by the November 17 conference which focused on trends that are likely to dominate the future agenda.
"The conference was a tremendous success," said Dr. Penny Miller, the outgoing Chair of the Center’s Board of Directors. "It provided community leaders from across the state an opportunity to learn more about what they can do to help foster development in the regions where they live, and the general and breakout sessions of the conference helped enrich the public dialogue about issues that are certain to top the public agenda for years to come."
The half-day workshop on how to marshal civic entrepreneurship was conducted by Douglas Henton, a Versailles, Kentucky, native who, along with his Palo Alto, California, based firm Collaborative Economics, has received national acclaim for assisting the development of cities and towns.
Henton and his colleagues are also the authors of Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy, a book that details the dynamics of successful development efforts in diverse locations around the country. Ronald Heifetz, Director of Harvard’s Leadership Education Project at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, called the book "a seminal work in fleshing out the kind of leadership we need to renew and prepare communities for the demands of democracy in the coming era."
Figure 1: Governor Paul Patton opens the Center's 1998 conference, "The Leadership Challenge Ahead"
Henton and Collaborative Economics specialize in highly interactive workshops that feature state-of-the-art computerized presentations integrating videotaped footage of interviews with slides. The workshop introduced attendees to new skills in development and provided them with a thorough understanding of the concept and the practice of civic entrepreneurship. Those who attended the workshop also came away with many transferable ideas and innovations that have proven successful in other regions araound the country, tools to evaluate their own regions, and a better understanding of ways to act in the best interest of their communities.
Four major forces are profoundly influencing the economic future of communities, Henton told those on hand for the workshop, and each is compelling a more collaborative approach to development.
New globalism is undermining the power of nation-states and underscoring the importance of economic regions.
Changing demographics are forcing more collaborative leadership styles as citizens press for expanded participation.
Information technology has flattened organizations, decentralized decisionmaking, and encouraged networking among firms and people.
Centralized, top-down government solutions are giving way as devolution affects government at every level.
Figure 2: Doug Henton introduces civic entrepreneurship
Given these changing conditions, Henton observes, the presence of sufficient civic or social capital, what he and his colleagues term civic entrepreneurship, is central to the economic success of a region. Civic entrepreneurs, Henton asserts, are a highly collaborative group of community leaders who work to link the economic life force or forces of a place, the "clusters" of related businesses or institutions that fuel a region’s economy, with its civic forces. Civic entrepreneurs effectively bridge these two forces and, in the process, strengthen both.
The result, Henton told those in attendance, is an economic community that has a responsive relationship between the two forces, one that permits a place to remain economically strong. Indeed, Henton suggests that the presence of civic entrepreneurs is the distinguishing factor that separates economic winners from losers.
The one-day Center conference on November 17 featured presentations and panel and audience discussions of critical issues before the Commonwealth. Some of these issues will present the most difficult challenges of policy adaptation in the years to come while others may compel the state to make fundamental changes to encourage and enable equal opportunity, improved public health, quality instruction, and a strong business environment.
Dr. Penny Miller welcomed those on hand for the Tuesday, November 17 conference and introduced the morning keynote speaker, Governor Paul Patton. The Governor opened the conference with remarks about areas of progress in the state and important changes in the role state government plays in guiding that progress.
Governor Patton also presented the 1998 Vic Hellard, Jr., Award on behalf of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center and its Board of Directors during the morning session of the conference. This year’s recipient was Joseph W. Kelly, who served as chairman of the Kentucky Board of Education from 1991 until April 1998, a period of far-reaching change for education in Kentucky.
Following Governor Patton’s presentation of the Hellard award, Michael T. Childress, Executive Director of the Center gave a slide presentation, "Key Trends Affecting the State," in which he outlined major challenges that lie ahead for the Commonwealth. The presentation distilled the findings from the Center’s forthcoming third biennial trends report, which, like the conference, will be entitled The Leadership Challenge Ahead. The report is scheduled to be released at year’s end and will be made available to the public by mid- to late January. This year’s report will include a CD-ROM containing a virtual encyclopedia of the body of Center work, as well as videotaped interviews about issues of importance to the state.
The conference featured six sessions that ran concurrently during morning and afternoon sessions. Participants included some of the state’s leading experts, such as Commissioner of Education Dr. Wilmer Cody; Kentucky League of Cities CEO and President Sylvia Lovely; outgoing President of the Kentucky Medical Association, Dr. Ken Peters; Director of the University of Kentucky Center for Health Services Management and Research, Dr. Douglas Scutchfield; State Senator Tom Buford; and State Representative Stephen Nunn. Each panel discussion included a range of perspectives on six key issue areas:
Harnessing the Power of the Internet to Grow Kentucky Businesses explored the growth in sales that some Kentucky firms have realized by doing business on the World Wide Web and the obstacles and tools that prevent other firms from doing the same.
Kentucky’s Continuing Health Care Dilemma addressed the scope of the problems associated with access to health care and the major regulatory issues they raise.
Kentucky’s Teaching Force Near the Millenium—Charting a Course for KERA’s Second Decade examined teacher training and the impact it is certain to have on the success of educational reform.
Exploring the Future Well-Being of Women in Kentucky assessed the status of women in the state from a variety of perspectives.
Developing an Entrepreneurial Economy—Attainable Vision or Fanciful Illusion? explored forces that inhibit entrepreneurship and ways of addressing them.
Assessing Kentucky’s Civil Society—Points of Leverage and a Plan of Action analyzed this essential ingredient for development and ways of enhancing it.
Panel discussions were launched with brief presentations of the key issues. Panelists provided a variety of perspectives that permitted those in attendance to consider complex issues from the vantage points of a number of players. Question and answer sessions that followed panel presentations permitted the audience to explore issues of importance to them.