๐๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ต๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ด
I thought I was reasonably well prepared. I had read the research, understood the theories, sat in plenty of meetings with practitioners.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the reality of how economic development actually works.
The people I was working with weren’t interested in debate or deliberation. They weren’t there to discuss frameworks. They were laser focused on delivery โ on helping real people in deprived communities, with limited time and even more limited resources.
Academic theory felt very far away in those rooms. ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด!
It took me a while to understand that this wasn’t anti-intellectualism. It was professionalism. These were people who knew exactly what they were there to do, and they didn’t need a consultant from outside telling them things that might not even be relevant to their context.
I came into this role with a Ph.D. but was open and humble enough to learn from some great people and places. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐’๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
It also shaped every page of The Local and Regional Economic Development Handbook โ which is built around practice, not theory, and the reality of what economic developers actually do.
๐ lredhandbook.com
#EconomicDevelopment #PlaceLeadership #Regeneration #ProfessionalDevelopment
