============================================================================== Center for Community Economic Development University of Wisconsin-Extension Community Economics Newsletter No. 269 March 1999 ============================================================================== A Newsletter from the Center for Community Economic Development; Community, Natural Resource and Economic Development Programs, and University of Wisconsin-Extension, Cooperative Extension Service ============================================================================== Civic Entrepreneurs: Economic Professional as Collaborative Leader by Douglas Henton, John Melville, & Kimberly Walesh* Civic entrepreneurs help communities collaborate to develop and organize their economic assets and to build productive, resilient relationships across the public, private, and civil sectors. They forge the ties that bind economy and community for their mutual benefit. They provide continuity to work on tough issues over the long haul. The term civic entrepreneur combines two important American traditions: entrepreneurship--the spirit of enterprise--and civic virtue--the spirit of community. Entrepreneurs are change agents. Joseph Schumpeter was the first modern economist to focus on the special role of entrepreneurs as drivers of "creative destruction" in modern economies. The function of the entrepreneur, Schumpeter believed, was to reform or revolutionize the established patterns of production. So doing, the entrepreneur inevitably meets resistance. Schumpeter writes, "To act with confidence beyond the range of familiar beacons and to overcome the resistance...defines the entrepreneurial type." Peter Drucker also views the entrepreneur as a unique agent of change. Drucker writes that "the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity." Like the business entrepreneur, the civic entrepreneur operates in a time of dramatic change, sees opportunity, and mobilizes others in the community to work toward their collective well being. Civic Entrepreneurs Share Five Traits Civic entrepreneurs can come from business or government, from education, or from other community sectors. They come from many segments of society and all walks of life. In our experience with these people, we have found that they share five common traits. First, civic entrepreneurs understand the new economic realities, and are compelled to act on optimistic vision of how their community can be successful in the next century-world. They believe the new economy--global, complex, fast-changing--can provide unprecedented opportunity for people, places, and organizations. Civic entrepreneurs take their regional economy--its opportunities and needs--as a starting point, and help communities make positive choices about their future, building the relationships and specialized resources for success. Second, civic entrepreneurs share the personality of the classic business entrepreneur. People of vision, they see possibilities and work creatively and persistently to make possibilities real. They know how to combine resources and talent to make change happen. In contrast to the bureaucrat, civic entrepreneurs instinctively find reasons why things can happen, as opposed to focusing on reasons why they cannot. In contrast to the idealist, civic entrepreneurs are challenged by the "how-to" questions and delight in getting results. Mobilizing resources, persisting against all odds, driving toward tangible results--civic entrepreneurs bring their entrepreneurial mindset and skills to the civic arena. Third, civic entrepreneurs exert a collaborative style of leadership. They know how to work with people to get results. Civic entrepreneurs believe that the benefits of a changed economic context can be realized only with more collaborative, resilient connections between the new economy and the community. They provide collaborative leadership to bring diverse parties to the table, identify common ground, and take joint action. They build bridges. More often than not, civic entrepreneurs lead with no formal power or authority, with only their credibility. Civic entrepreneurs are worthy of people's trust. Fourth, civic entrepreneurs are motivated to get involved in their community out of enlightened, long-term self-interest. Civic entrepreneurs believe that their personal long-term interests, and those of their organization, are to some extent tied to the health of the local economy and the community. They view it as in their best interest to work toward a long-term positive interconnectedness among business vitality, schools and universities, physical infrastructure, natural environment, and tax base. This motivation is in direct contrast to traditional roles that have been played by business and other community leaders--the lobbyist who advocates narrow positions, the philanthropist who contributes money for personal recognition, the opportunist who seeks personal notoriety or pursues short-term economic interests. Civic entrepreneurship is not about altruism per se; it is about long-term economic interests that include community well being and quality of life issues. Fifth, civic entrepreneurs work in teams to help their communities move forward. They are not lone eagles or solitary charismatic leaders. Community change processes are complex undertakings that require multiple talents and a lot of teaching. Civic entrepreneurs play different roles on a team, each contributing their unique skills, experience, personalities, and connections. Only by combining roles and developing more and more new leaders are civic entrepreneurs effective. The last version of civic initiative is unique because it is in response to factors that changed dramatically beginning in the early 1980s. The world is different economically, technologically, politically, and demographically, so the nature of effective leadership has changed. Civic entrepreneurs, for example, value the entrepreneurial, export-engines of regional economies that need to compete globally; earlier business coalitions were dominated more by real estate and downtown business interests. In fact, civic entrepreneurs typically preach interdependence, helping communities understand the economic importance of export-oriented industries and the value of community to the success of business today. Civic entrepreneurs practice collaborative leadership; in a world of decentralizing community power structures they effectively bring people together. Earlier leadership was often far less inclusive. Effective organizations were often driven by and restricted to a handful of high-profile business leaders, wealthy individuals, or political elites. Civic entrepreneurs today get involved in the hands-on implementation of change; earlier leadership tended to emphasize civic visioning and making recommendations on what government should do. Because of the radically changed context, effective community leaders today think, look and act quite differently than their counterparts from decades ago. * Corporation for Enterprise Development Economic Development Commentary, v.22 #4, Winter 1998: 27 - 29. Ron Shaffer Community Development Specialist Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8, and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Carl O'Connor, Cooperative Extension, University of Wisconsin-Extension. University of Wisconsin-Extension, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Wisconsin counties cooperating. UW-Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX and ADA.