“Economic development is a great profession. It’s one where you do make lifetime friends” –  Jim Staton Have you ever built a long-lasting friendship through a working relationship? Carla Sones welcomes in good friends Chris Schastok and Jim Staton to share their experiences and how they met through economic development. Chris Schastok, Executive Vice President…

“Trust is something that is built. Everybody has to come to the table being willing to bring their best to an event but also be prepared to flex in and out of roles.” – Carla Sones When you bring site consultants or others into your community, what is your why? Why are you doing this…

“I’m obsessed with giving the audience something they don’t see coming.” —Jordan Peele Economic development is heavily focused on relationship building. And with relationship building comes event after event. Here at Consultant Connect we often get asked, how do you find the cool and memorable venues and moments that make all the difference? In this…

“Great thing take years to build.” —Sam Juraschka In economic development, the pace of work can be grueling. Because we’re often operating in a short-term mindset due to full project pipelines and shorter timelines on projects, it can feel counter-intuitive to stop and think about the long term strategy of your organizations work. What are…

Amazon has created more jobs in America in the last decade than any other company. With such a level of job growth, it’s only natural that the company has built an internal economic development team with its own strategy around doing developmental project work. How does economic development strategy differ when operating on behalf of…

“It is not so much about what life hands you, but what you do with what you get.” –Idowu Koyenikan Sometimes lessons are learned the hard way, and those tend to be the lessons that shape our leadership habits from that point forward. Whether it’s a lesson from a time where we assumed we knew…

“The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.” –Barack Obama Few words in society these days illicit as much emotion as the phrase “cancel culture.” With its roots of originating as a tool for marginalized communities to assert their values against public wrong-doings, cancel culture in many ways…

“In an age where everything and everyone is linked through networks of glass and air, no one is an island. One thing is for sure: no organization can succeed in a world that is failing.” –Don Tapscott Creating growth and prosperity in our communities is work that has to be done alongside others. When economic…

“Economic development is a team sport. We are only successful when we can work with, collaborate, empower and guide others in a common direction.” –Jonas Peterson Despite significant hurdles like ever-increasing costs of materials, labor shortages and supply chain challenges, the project pipelines have been overflowing the last few years. While most communities have experienced…

“There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.” –Idowu Koyenikan You’ve undoubtedly seen those articles with “Best Places to…” or “Top Metro for…” lists. Maybe your community was on the list. Maybe you aspire to be on such a list. But what is…