| Written By Craig Scharton |
"Fresno is an informational island -- very little gets in and very little gets out."
- Former Mayor Dan Whitehurst, May 1987
The bad news is: As the world gets flatter, islands are not going to do very well. The good news is: We now have many more bridges available (if we choose to use them).
Think about the Central Valley as an
island, or maybe an archipelago.
How do we connect with the mainland to
learn what is happening in the bigger world?
How do we share information about what is
happening in the Central Valley?
Networking is a term that brings up images
of the same people attending the same
after-hours mixers, exchanging the same
business cards, jokes and stories. But, this
is no longer the case.
Networks are vital to individuals,
businesses and regions. Networks are
connected through underground cable,
satellites and cell towers. Human networks
are simpler to maintain than they ever have
been in history. Sending an e-mail to Miguel
in Spain is as easy as sending a text message
to my employee who is only two miles from me.
But you know all of this.
How do we network our region with the
world?
One way is to send out scouts. Send people
away for jobs, education and adventure. They
can tell the Central Valley story to the
world, and the ones who come back
(boomerangs) can bring news, skills and
experience to us.
We can attract or pay people to come to
us. Visalia business leaders paid Vicente Fox
to come to a conference to share his world
perspective with us. Our public and private
institutions of higher learning bring in a
variety of speakers from around the world. It
is up to us to make the time to attend, to
encourage others to attend, and then to share
the information learned with others.
Another valuable form of networking is
through professional and trade associations.
The Regional
Jobs Initiative has formed industry
clusters in areas like water technology, food
processing, manufacturing, clean energy and
software. The strength of these clusters is
directly proportional to the participation of
our local companies. The greater the
participation, the stronger they can become
through policy changes, joint purchasing, and
collective trade and marketing efforts. Our
region is the winner when these sectors
become stronger.
The Central Valley Business Incubator is a
member of the National Business
Incubation Association. There are 1,100
business incubators in the United States.
Just like every other field of business, it
is imperative that we learn from others so
that we can be as effective as possible for
the benefit of our region. As part of this
network, we will be hosting incubator
professionals from the western U.S., Canada
and Mexico to a meeting
in the Central Valley on Nov. 29-30. If
you know people who are interested in
starting a business incubator in your
community, this will be a great opportunity
to learn from experienced professionals.
Let's learn what we can from them and also
share the exciting things that are happening
in our community -- while we have them on the
island!
|