Day 142: My Brackets Are Shot. There’s an Economic Development Lesson Here

Day 142: My Brackets Are Shot. There’s an Economic Development Lesson Here: I am a graduate of Iowa State University. Yesterday their loss killed my brackets as I am a homer and had them playing Kentucky in the Championship game. My Iowa State Cyclones lost because they went into their game as a 3 seed playing a 14 seed. This team has played all season playing from behind because they can’t seem to build their own energy. They thrive on loud crowds. It doesn’t matter if it is the opposing crowd or the home crowd. But put them in a quiet gym like Texas Tech or a first round NCAA Tournament game and they play flat and lose. Plain and simple. They played yesterday in a half filled arena in front of a quiet neutral crowd. They lost.

My Iowa State Cyclone basketball team would not do well as an economic development professional. Most everything we do is behind the scenes and we rarely get the attention, support or cheering that we deserve. We have to plug away every day to make a difference. When we do have a success the community and board say thanks and then asks, “When is the next project coming?” We are always playing in a quiet gym. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s keep the basketball analogy going here. To make it to the NCAA you have to perform all season. In order to perform you have to practice. Will your organization win the NCAA equivalent? Are you doing what you should be doing? You are the coach. Are you helping your team (the community) be the best it can be? To turn up the volume you had better be working with several other organizations and not worrying about who gets the credit for the win. When you do that, you may not get as much blame for the loss. Preparation, cooperation and success will raise the volume of your community. When the community has success, let the world know. The more success you have, the louder the crowd will get. So during March Madness take a moment and assess how your team (community) is doing and make some adjustments if you aren’t winning.

Next Previous