‘Moneyball’ strategy can turn around R.I.

I recently realized that Rhode Island is like the Chicago Cubs of the economic- development world. We never win the prize.
Our record of underachievement in the economic-development space is astounding. For decades the collective genius and energies of governors, legislators, union leaders, policymakers and others have unintentionally misspent our time and fortunes trying to move the economic-development needle of the tiniest state in the nation forward to no avail.
How could some of the smartest people in the state, working for decades, rack up such a dismal record? While I am not an economic-development expert I have been involved in the conversation to varying degrees for 30 years.
I’ve built many organizations in the state, as an entrepreneur and consultant; I served on the Economic Policy Council for several years and spent five years as the chairman of a large industry cluster that is still helping Rhode Island’s IT and life sciences industries grow.
This experience has led me to conclude why all our efforts at economic development have essentially failed.
Simply put: We have been playing the game all wrong.
Our road to recovery begins by applying three quotes from Einstein and adopting a strategy for “winning while small” from Major League Baseball.
First the quotes:
• “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
• “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
• “A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be (or wants to be).”
The first two quotes tell us we must think and act differently if we want different results.
The third quote suggests we accept and enthusiastically embrace the reality that the largest economic engine Rhode Island will ever have is our small- and medium-sized businesses
There’s no shame admitting Rhode Island isn’t attractive to mega-corporations and that entrepreneurial startups are too risky, resource-needy and too slow to grow for what we need. Both are important, but neither are solutions.
Einstein’s third quote tells us that it doesn’t matter whether or not anyone likes this fact. What is so, is what is so.
Therefore, any successful ED strategy must focus upon making our existing small businesses and medium-sized businesses very successful. This is really good news for several reasons. They’re already here; they’re tough and smart (they survive in the country’s worst economy); they’re loyal and they’re like Clydesdales when it comes to building things!
These folks have everything necessary to rebuild a devastated economy – as Ernesto Sirolli’s Ripples from the Zambezi so deftly proves.
“Moneyball” is a David vs. Goliath strategy described in Michael Lewis’ best-selling book “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.” Lewis explains how, in 2002, the under-resourced Oakland Athletics abandoned 100 years of conventional wisdom for a brilliant new strategy known as sabermetrics. In doing so they transformed from one of the worst teams in baseball, in one of the smallest markets, into one of the best. They did this by accepting their weakness, maximizing undervalued assets and being incredibly committed to the game plan in the early going.
Proof of the effectiveness of this scrappy strategy is that the Red Sox used it to win the 2004 World Series.
First, the leaders and elders of our small-business community must be invited to lead the conversation that defines the solution. Their solutions must be respected, listened to and applied! They aren’t idiots. In fact they are the only real experts who know how to grow business; which is the first step to building an economy.
Then policymakers and politicians must help turn that thinking into an actionable strategy that fuels profits, tax revenues and job growth by reducing regulations, red tape and oppressive taxes.
The discussion must be inclusive, however it must have a laser focus on strengthening and protecting our small/medium businesses. Also, the plan cannot be controlled by academics, politicians, bureaucrats or public-sector unions.
We must then assemble and empower an ED leadership team that understands this new-world thinking. The governor, General Assembly leaders and other influencers should become empowered facilitators, not obstructionists or meddlers, who help the Clydesdales pull us out of the muck.
We already have some small pieces of this Moneyball strategy in place. Rhode Island’s existing Buy Local initiative and the new “It’s All in Our Backyard” program are examples.
Rhode Island also has two highly respected thought leaders to lead the process. Marcel Valois, head of the EDC, and Scott Gibbs, president at the Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island are brilliant innovators who have the credibility and knowledge to spearhead such a Rhode Island-centric initiative.
So, we have almost everything we need to create a healthy, sustainable, job- creating, tax-revenue-generating economy for Rhode Island, including the “gift of desperation.”
The only thing I question is whether our political leaders still think they’re smarter than Einstein. •


Jeffrey Deckman is the founder of Capability Accelerators.

No posts to display