Labor of Love

The travel magazine I flip through on my flight home to New York happens to have a feature on New Orleans which begins, “More than Mardi Gras, the Big Easy is a colorful, trendsetting City steeped in history.”  It is that, and way more, and its challenges and opportunities defy easy sloganeering.  Nola has had success billing itself as a music and food destination, but many of those jobs offer little chance for upward mobility, which is one of the things I think the people of this City need most. 

Over five days as part of the Benolabound program, I had the privilige and the unique opportunity to meet some of the people working to create an entrepreneurial renaissance in New Orleans.  In intimate sessions, I heard from the Chief of Police (who rightfully acknowledges that the crime problem is really an employment and education problem at its root), the Director of the Downtown Development District, the President of the New Orleans Hornets, and the Founder of IdeaVillage.  I’ve listened to local celebrities like Wendell Pierce and Irvin Mayfield Jr. talk about their birthplace, and I’ve also had conversations with local entrepreneurs, chefs, and students.  Among the many highlights, I had my first crawfish boil in Audobon Park, witnessed Shamarr Allen and his band light up the stage at DBA, observed firsthand the rebuilding taking place on the streets of the Broadmoor neighborhood,  hung out with DancingMan504 at the Super Sunday second line, visited the new and old in the Lower Ninth Ward, and partied in the middle of Frenchmen Street with Kermit Ruffins.  These memories will be with me forever, but I’m the first to admit that five days in Nola does not make me an expert on what New Orleans needs to rebuild, or to thrive in the 21st century. 

Having worked in economic development the past five years, I’d suggest that the task ahead is monumental.  There’s a need for ‘cathedral vision’; some of the work that’s necessary may not be completed in the lifetime of those rebuilding this City.  That is tough to hear in our instant gratification culture, but it is meaningful work that must be done and will define those who work on it for generations to come.  Six years after Katrina, it’s time to recognize the positive changes that have been made, publicly acknowledge the people who roll up their sleeves on a daily basis, and redouble efforts to build a better Crescent City.  I hope this may be one of the unexpected consequences of the Benolabound program; it’s easy to get burnt out when you’re in the trenches everyday.  Hopefully our visit provided some inspiration, and let our hosts at Greater New Orleans Inc., Nola Renaissance, and the Downtown Development District know that a helping hand is there to be grasped.

While homes need to be rebuilt at an accelerated pace, and places like East New Orleans need better healthcare and food access, the City has made substantive progress in rebuilding despite two man-disasters which are hard to comprehend from the outside.  The people on the frontlines who I met on my trip are resourceful, diligent, collaborative, passionate, and most importantly, ready to embrace change.  They know they don’t have it completely figured out – no City does.  But they are looking around the country for best practices in healthcare reform, transportation, workforce training, etc. and their eagerness should be a clarion call for those of us who can help to re-engage and rebuild their City in a smart way.

New Orleans needs smart, creative people from around the world to come live, work, and contribute to it’s vibrancy.  (Hint: these people tend to like to ride bikes). It needs companies both big and small to locate there, and it’s sending the right policy signals to attract them.  Those things are starting to happen, and it’s an incredible place to be.  In order to truly build a strong foundation for the sustained growth of a vibrant, startup friendly knowledge economy, I believe New Orleans should consider the following initiatives:

1.    Integration of entrepreneurship and a heavy emphasis on STEAM (science, tech, education, arts, and math) education in the K-12 system.  Educational reform is occurring at a blistering pace, and while not without controversy, it is rightly focused on better student outcomes.  Previously disenfranchised students who make up the majority of the City’s population should be shown that if they work hard they can start their own business.  The next Steve Jobs could emerge from Broadmoor or Gentilly if there are more internships and apprenticeships with local companies that young eager kids can take advantage of.  Ties with the business community (not just big co’s) need to be strengthened at the earliest age possible and sustained so that future generations see that opportunity exists in New Orleans and they don’t need to leave to have a good life.  Universities, colleges, and non-traditional educational companies also have a vital role to play in this critical educational endeavor.  These efforts also need to be reinforced at home, not just in school.  Human capital is paramount.

2.    Local success stories need to be held up on a pedestal and celebrated so that those men (and more importantly women) who have built successful entrepreneurial ventures inspire hundreds and thousands of others who might follow in their footsteps.  As Bill Aulet from MIT says, this is the ‘Jeremy Lin’ effect.  I know how tough it is to run a business, and how little time is left at the end of the day.  Most of the entrepreneurs I met at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week were already giving back by serving on boards and volunteering; they are stretched thin.  But there needs to a more structured program that is more visible that can support them.  Successful serial entrepreneurs are at the heart of every strong startup ecosystem; they are the investors, mentors, founders, and risktakers that are the lifeblood of New York, Boston, California, Texas, etc.  Financial capital is a key ingredient for progress, and as Wendell Pierce put it to us, “Economic development is the social justice issue of the 21st century.”

3.    New Orleans should not seek to be Silicon Valley, and for that matter, neither should New York.  Innovation happens at the edges, and Cities should support existing assets that can be leveraged to create economies of scale and promote competition.  Michael Porter addresses the issue of cluster development far more effectively than I can, and people like Gus Speth have been working for years on building a new economy.  As detailed effectively by Greater New Orleans, Inc. the City has established industries and critical mass in energy, entertainment, and tourism.  These are jobs that can’t be outsourced.  It should double-down on these sectors while letting a thousand flowers bloom in film and TV production, educational technology, healthcare IT, enterprise software, etc.  Nola will thrive if it draws on it’s rich history of disruptive innovation to invest in and develop the next generation of products and services that will employ its people.  One New Orleans native and tech. company founder told me that he felt as if the City had effectively ‘taken the last 50 years off, while other Cities were investing in their strengths’.  The competition for the jobs and industries of the future is not just with other US Cities like Portland, San Francisco and Austin. It is increasingly with Cities in South America and South and East Asia.  Diversity is a strength, not only in terms of people, but in terms of industry sectors.

4.    Even if New Orleans succeeds in re-inventing itself once again (it was not all that long ago that it was King Cotton, and then Big Sugar, as were told) it will all be for naught if it does not rapidly address its vulnerability to more frequent, violent weather events and a warmer climate.  Whether or not you believe what the science tells us about climate change, 3.7 million Americans will face increasing coastal flooding, thanks to rising sea levels. That risk will grow more acute over coming decades.  A new report from the non-profit group Climate Central, entitled ‘Surging Seas’’ states that, “By 2030, many locations are likely to see storm surges combining with sea level rise to raise waters at least 4 feet above the local high-tide line. “  Without wetland restoration on a massive scale, none of the industry support measures outlined above and championed by City officials matters, harsh as that may sound.  Another massive flood (or series of floods) threatens to derail the progress that’s been made over the past six years, and it must be dealt with head on as the mortal threat that it is.  New Orleans needs to be bold and take action immediately by investing in adaptation and mitigation infrastructure, which will have the added benefit of putting its people to work.  Because it is a blue city in a red state, in a politically divided nation, it is nearly impossible to address this issue in a meaningful way.  But if ever there were a time or issue where it was appropriate to put aside politics of the present for the promise of the future, this is that time.  This is the issue. 

In many ways, New Orleans is a microcosm of America as it truly is in 2012:  Huge wealth and class disparity.  Politics standing in the way of progress.  A pressing need for better education.  Deep racial divides but also incredible harmony.  Cultural innovation that is constantly reinventing itself.  Down but certainly not out.  New Orleans fulfilling its promise is about America living up to the ideals of our Founding Fathers.  Socialibility is the killer app for cities and because New Orleans is rebuilding it has an opportunity to experiment with system thinking and open systems for city networks. I came into the Benolabound experience with no expectations; what I found was a reason to hope.  Community leaders are aligned, energized, and able.  The deck may be stacked against it, but New Orleans is on the right trajectory.  If New Orleans succeeds, America succeeds.  If it fails, the American promise that still attracts so many to come here is unrealized.  In the same way that people from across the country considered themselves New Yorkers after 9/11, New Orleans in all its beauty and complexity is an indelible part of the American identity.

posted: March 22, 2012