Changing the Game

Years ago I met a guy who was in economic development.  Every town, city, state, region, and country has someone working to make sure they get the biggest possible slice of the economic pie.  He was that guy for one town in Texas.

Everyone in this business is working the same levers. They highlight their low costs, high quality of life, great workforce, cooperative government, and cap it off with some tax breaks or plain old cash -- all to get companies to move to their town.

This guy was different though.  He decided that all of these factors were insignificant when compared to the motivations of CEOs that wanted to make big changes in their companies.  He had found a study that showed how changing a corporate culture took seven years -- and the only way to speed it up was to replace at least half of the employees.

He also learned that if you move your company far enough, less than half of the employees will move with you.  So he decided that he was not going to pull the same levers as everyone else.  He decided he was in the business of helping CEOs make dramatic changes to their businesses.  He decided to change the game -- and his town won big.