Developing and building trust as a statement sounds pretty straightforward- but the reality is that in the workplace, and even at home, this can be a challenge. First you need to define what trust is, then armed with the tools to build it in your life, you are well on your way to building stronger personal and professional relationships ..read more

Former Dotcom executive and author Seth Godin said, “In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible. Business and economic development leaders often look at successful communities and they try to emulate what that community did to become successful, instead of looking for ways to differentiate themselves from their neighbors. Here to talk about how to differentiate your community through storytelling is Tyler Raborn, CEO of full-service marketing firm Raborn Media LLC. At Raborn Media, Tyler has married creativity with co ..read more

Experience is often said to be the best teacher. For people who work in a field for several decades they rack up a lot of experience. Luckily, some of them are willing to share ..read more

Like death and taxes, another inevitable facet of life is we all gotta eat and drink. As a matter of fact, food processing and production is a rapidly expanding and evolving sector across the country. There are some important steps communities can take ahead of pursing a food and beverage project to help them become more competitive.  ..read more

This quote was taken straight from a presentation by this episode’s special guest: “If you want to think like a futurist, stop marveling at What’s New and begin to think about What’s Next.” Here to talk about trends which are sure to affect Mississippi and our future in the next decade is Ted Abernathy. Ted is the managing partner of Economic Leadership LLC, a consultancy currently working in more than a dozen states to develop economic and workforce strategies. Ted has 35 years of experience in directing economic development and workforce development programs. Join us to learn more about tren ..read more

If you look across the country and the globe, successful communities have a lot in common, which includes being desirable places to live. But what qualities help make these places a big draw for both emerging and established workers? Kim Moore is going to better help us define some of these qualities of successful communities.   ..read more

To incentivize or not to incentivize… the great question of economic developers across the country for many years. Obviously, it wasn’t Shakespeare who posed the question but today, incentives are in the mix of almost every job creation project. Luckily, there are experts like Bob Westover who can help companies and development officials make the most of both statutory and discretionary incentive opportunities ..read more

Special Guests: Danielle Winningham, Chief Operating Officer for the Madison County Economic Development Authority and Jan Collins, Executive Director of the Madison County Business League & Foundation Description: Workforce development is a top driver of site location decisions made by most companies today. During the recruitment process, economic development officials will be asked a couple of key questions: First, do you have the workforce to get the job done, and second, do you have a sustainable workforce development model to provide the talent pipeline? Madison County, Mississippi ha ..read more

Navigating business practices of foreign companies can be a challenge for even the most experienced economic developer. Whether it is foreign regulations or cultural differences, Florian Stamm is here to better help us navigate the important world of foreign direct investment ..read more

When local economic developers work with their corporate partners on new sites or expansions- the most successful projects worked months, even years to develop a pre-capital plan making the business case before the first bucket of dirt was moved ..read more