Scarcity versus Abundance

"Everyone is leaving the state." "There are no opportunities in Michigan." "Once kids can leave, they do." "If you want to be where the action is, go to NYC, Chicago, DC..." "There are no resources available, all the venture capital is in other parts of the country."

You get the point. We all have heard the tape recording similar to the words above. When regions get hit with the contraction of industry like SE Michigan--- it becomes hard to imagine anything but scarcity.

I'm in the upper floor of Buzz Bar in Downtown Detroit meeting with 8 professional and civic minded leaders in their 20's and early 30's. Buzz Bar is a place known for its music --- mostly blues and jazz.

I don't hear scarcity, I hear abundance. I don't hear why one should leave, I hear why one should come and stay. I don't hear entitlement, I hear a pioneer's voice. I don't hear "can't", I hear "do".

As I leave, I am struck that volume and visibility of their voice isn't as evident as it needs to be. This group, which is helping United Way think through its next generation leadership strategy -- called Leadership Next, isn't writing a chapter to an already established story.

They are writing the region's new story.

"My friends ask me what am I doing in Detroit, Michigan. They are in New York and Chicago. I invite them here and show them what I am doing. (This person develops commercial property in the City of Detroit --- he is from New York) They can't believe it. I remind them that I wouldn't be able to do a quarter of what I am doing in Detroit if my work was in NYC or Chicago. I can go farther, wider and faster here than any other market."

Abundance not Scarcity. That's the tune to play. He wasn't singing the Blues; he was imagining the future. He was participating in the writing the new story.

Abundance vs Scarcity --- how do each of us tell this region's story?

Thanks for reading. Pass it on.