Jeffrey Bosdet/Douglas Magazine
From the Editor
A City Beyond Cynicism
Since the Mayor’s Task Force on Economic Development and Prosperity released its draft action plan, Making Victoria: Unleashing Potential, on September 11, I’ve talked to a lot of people about it. I’ve encountered both optimism and cynicism. Optimism because this is a plan that seems to speak the language of entrepreneurs, not bureaucrats; cynicism because we’ve watched many task forces come and go over the years — and a lot of ideas have been left on the table to rot. I’m going to bypass cynicism and give this draft plan a tentative thumbs up for a number of reasons. First, I like its premise: “The job of the City and its partners is to establish the conditions for implementing sustainable economic development. In order to accomplish this, we cannot shy away from disrupting the status quo, challenging old habits and assumptions, and promoting a new set of values in order to help Victoria’s economic ecosystem thrive.” Second, I buy into its focus on rapid prototyping, real-time customer feedback and measurable action — because I do believe that what gets measured gets done. Third, I’m tired of the cynicism that has infected civic politics. Someone once described cynicism as a premature disappointment in the future. Standing back with our arms folded, throwing clever quips while remaining removed from the process, won’t help us to do the heavy lifting that needs to be done to make Victoria an entrepreneurial centre of excellence. One of the things I like best about Making Victoria: Unleashing Potential is the idea of setting up a business hub at City Hall. It’s important that this hub be more than a physical space; it needs to be developed with a can-do attitude and a deep understanding of how businesses see the world and their real needs. A number of people I’ve talked to suggest hiving off this business hub to a location outside of City Hall and creating a living lab of innovation. It’s an interesting idea if a way can be found to do this without running up the hub’s budget on bricks and mortar. But even more important than the location is creating an entrepreneurial mindset. In his book, The Rise of the Creative Class: Revisited, Richard Florida refers to a study by personality psychologists Sam Gosling and Jason Rentfrow and others. The study counters the idea that Silicon Valley’s success can be replicated simply by adding talent, research universities and access to venture capital and shaking it all together. While acknowledging a need for these ingredients, the study’s authors found that success depends on attracting people who have a mix of high levels of openness, extraversion and conscientiousness — entrepreneurs with energy and endurance and the ability to make things happen. “So take heed mayors and business leaders,” Florida writes. “It will take a lot more than establishing tech transfer programs at research universities, upping the amount of local venture capital or creating new incubators to encourage entrepreneurship. Deep down it’s about attracting the right kinds of people and boosting a location’s entrepreneurial mindset.” I sense the Mayor’s Task Force on Economic Development and Prosperity gets this, and I sense Mayor Lisa Helps gets it. So let’s put cynicism aside for the time being and give Making Victoria: Unleashing Potential a chance to succeed. — Kerry Slavens kslavens@pageonepublishing.ca
Someone once described cynicism as a premature disappointment in the future.
6 Douglas