Deadline dates for future Vanguard editions:

1 August 2006
1 November 2006
1 February 2007

Please send submissions via email to srlease@buttscounty.org, via fax to
+1 (770) 775-8225,
or via postal mail to:

Steven Lease, AICP - Director
Community Development Dept.
Butts County
625 West 3rd Street, Suite 3,
Jackson, Georgia 30233
USA

Phone: +1 (770) 775-8210

Business as Usual, Best Practices, and Breakthrough Solutions

Mark Peterson, Professor – Community Development
University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service
Little Rock , AR

"A fundamental truth is that innovation can happen anywhere, in any industry [or community], at any time. "
Donna Fenn and John Case
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Creativity

We live in exciting times - times of rapid change, in which innovations and events on the other side of the world directly impact our communities, businesses, regions, and personal lives. How do we keep up? How do we get ahead? Let's look at three approaches:

Business as Usual may be successful today. After all, your community or business is in existence because, for better or worse, it has “worked”. Business as Usual works best in a stable environment, but it DOES NOT work as well today. Because the rate of change increases as ideas, knowledge, and people interact, the Internet and ease of travel have accelerated the rate of change. This means that what you, your community, or your company are doing will become obsolete faster than ever before.

Communities that reflect Business as Usual will lose out to communities employing Best Practices. Why would a major employer seeking a new location not want to locate in a community employing Best Practices?

Best Practices refers to the best way to do things, as agreed upon by a group of experts in a field. Best Practices relate to any field, including economic development, manufacturing, local government, agriculture, technology, and education. Are Best Practices useful? Absolutely. If you are new to a field, or really behind the eight-ball, employing Best Practices is a short cut to getting up to speed. But Best Practices are vulnerable to Breakthrough Solutions . If a major employer seeking a new location had to choose between four communities employing Best Practices and one community that has gone beyond Best Practices to create a Breakthrough Solution, they would choose the latter, all other things being equal.

Breakthrough Solutions may be defined as an advance, discovery, innovation, invention, or leap forward. Breakthrough Solutions act as catalysts to leverage other resources, they inspire awe, and they often change the rules. Breakthrough Solutions may be a new technology, a new product, a new process, a new business model, or a bold community initiative that positions the community for success in the 21 st century economy. Amazon.com, Starbucks, Fedex's overnight delivery system, and the Little Rock River Market are examples of breakthroughs.

(Continued on Page 3.)

CDS at National Katrina Summit

CDS was invited to join the National Katrina Summit in Nashville , Tennessee to discuss what role it might play in the future redevelopment of areas impacted by last year's hurricane. John Bloch, CDS President, and Randy Adams, vice-president of Programs, were in attendance on behalf of the organization at the meeting coordinated by Ken Pigg of the Rural Sociological Society (RSS) and Bo Beaulieu, Director of the Southern Rural Development Center.

The meeting centered on considerations of what the community development professional sector (researchers and practitioners) could contribute to future disaster preparation, relief, and rehabilitation efforts and how they might organize to do so. The meeting was a first step in looking at the broad range of resources and possible responses that might be considered. (Continued on Page 4.)

CDS Endowment is Thriving, Thanks to You!

The CDS Finance Committee's report for the spring Board meeting included good news on the Endowment: as of the end of 2005 it had grown to $67,645! The contributions to the Endowment for 2005 totaled $11,071. The bulk of the donations, nearly $8,900, were made to the Unrestricted Fund. Our newest fund, the George Nickolaus CD Graduate Student Award, received over $1,100 in 2005. The Finance Committee noted that the amount of growth in the Endowment is significant, since it represented individual contributions, rather than larger lump sum gifts from chapters or other organizations. (Continued on Page 6.)