BRAC and beyond: Playing the game both ways
By Bill Settlemyer
Executive Publisher
The column you are now reading was written prior to the release of the
dreaded BRAC list of proposed closings of military facilities around the country.
At last report, the rumor mill ominously predicted that the list might be released early on Friday the 13th. In any event, by the time you read this, we will probably know whether the Charleston region won, lost or held its ground in the current round of base closings.
Whatever the outcome, the situation is very different from the BRAC round a decade ago. Then, Sen. Fritz Hollings had already dropped the bombshell news that we would lose the Navy base and shipyard and their thousands of military and civilian employees.
The doomsday mood was palpable, and the first reaction was to play defense ... literally, I might add. An initiative was announced by business and civic leaders called “In Defense of Charleston.”
But it was too little, too late. Thankfully, other economic trends underway led to a solid string of economic development announcements during the next few years, including the blockbuster Nucor Steel plant announcement. Nucor is still here and still going strong, part of a company that has stayed nimble, lean and efficient during a decade of major changes in the global markets for steel.
We can also thank Sen. Hollings and other congressional leaders for landing a variety of federal facilities as a sort of consolation prize, including the SPAWAR Naval electronics facility, clearly a “jewel in the crown” type of win for the region due to its high-wage technology jobs and the civilian defense contractors drawn to the area to support the facility.
Playing the right game
Indulge me as I toss in a sports analogy to compare the region’s BRAC performance then versus now. Being a Duke alum, I am partial to basketball rather than football. Both are great sports, but in football you are either on offense or defense, with players dedicated to one phase of the game or the other. In contrast, basketball teams have to switch instantaneously from offense to defense and back again, and the greatest teams and players play both offense and defense at the same time.
That is a good description of the region’s efforts this time in the high-stakes BRAC competition. We studied how to play the game and planned for both offense and defense, trying to attract new government facilities while simultaneously working to keep what we had.
The effort was well conceived, well organized and well executed by the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and area defense contractors. If execution and coordination were less than perfect, that is because you are never going to achieve perfection in this kind of civic/business initiative.
Whatever we gain or lose in this BRAC round, we should celebrate and learn from the community’s efforts, including the “game highlights” as well as the occasional bobbled pass.
Time for region to learn a new game
In my last column I wrote about the AngelouEconomics’ economic development report, and I questioned whether the area’s leadership has the will and the courage to play the game of economic development at the speed and level required to make us competitive. The folks at Angelou emphasized more than once that the other regions around the country are really “stepping it up,” in contrast to our somewhat lethargic approach as a regional community.
It is time for Charleston’s regional leaders to learn a new game more like basketball than football (and more like Silicon Valley than Detroit). Basketball coaches know that most of their success comes from preparing their players to play. Once the game begins, the players have to react to the flow of the game, second-by-second, minute-by-minute. The great coaches make sure their players are focused and disciplined, but they must also trust their players and let them make decisions (and mistakes) on the court, both individually and collectively as a team.
The Angelou report challenges us to develop multiple teams to go after five different industry clusters. It challenges us to produce a unified and collaborative team effort to support entrepreneurial growth. The report challenges us to bring more business influence to bear on key “product development” issues like education reform. It challenges us to agree on a common marketing message for the entire region and to work together to push that message out to the nation and the world. Can we do it, or will old habits prevail—moving too slowly, being too focused on controlling others and guarding turf based on preconceived notions about “who does what.”
Bass-ackwards
I read a lot of business books. One I perused some years ago was titled The Wisdom of Teams. If my recollection is correct, the authors noted that the differences in personalities among team members are successfully overcome when the team is focused on clear, important and commonly shared goals.
Applying that principle to the way we execute business/civic leadership in our region, I would suggest that we often complete the process “bass-ackwards.” We start with divvying up responsibility, who gets to do what, and only secondarily do we focus on the overarching community goal. I have heard the following line more than once: “We do that–why are you (or your group or organization) doing that?” In other words, that’s our turf, so butt out!
Why am I (or my group or organization) “doing that,” you ask? Because “that” is an important task for our community, and there is more to be done, more quickly and more effectively, than any one group can do on its own. So, if there is a turf issue, how about sharing the turf and combining forces?
That is how great coaches and great basketball teams win championships—with unselfish play focused on winning the game. And that is how the Charleston region will win, or lose, the game of economic development.
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