Follow the Talent

Since February’s publishing of Talent Force, we have been fortunate enough to have seen many examples surface of what we have written about in the book.

One of those concepts is the partnership with companies and municipalities to recreate the modern-day version of the “Company Town”.  Hank likes to say that with 40 acres and a wi-fi, anything is possible.

Earlier this year, we wrote a blog that gave some ideas for the Governors of the United States.  We would like to go further with that topic here.

The week before last, Google made the announcement that they would hire 1,000 people in Michigan.  For Google, a thousand people is still a lot, but it is not enormous. What is significant is that Google looked in a most unusual place for a Silicon Valley based company.  They reached to a state where without a retooling of The Talent Force is facing an economic and Talent crisis.  I can only imagine the smiles that crossed the faces of every state university in Michigan when they read the announcement; a second chance for Michigan with a long-term attractive employment prospect for future students.

You can read about the announcement here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_hi_te/google_michigan_7

It is great that Google (and a founder with ties to the state) were able to make this commitment.  But states need to do more if they are to make these opportunities even that more attractive to companies and more importantly to the talent that are necessary to make the ventures successful.

I recently received a letter from the Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, asking me as a Hoosier and a supporter of my university, Purdue, to consider bringing my business and jobs to Indiana.  I quote from the letter: “Indiana is transforming its economic landscape by undertaking bold and aggressive initiatives to make it easier to conduct business. We have long been a low cost business state, and now we are making it even easier to start, expand and relocate businesses.”  The letter goes on to describe the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), which was created in 2005 to solely assist businesses to grow and prosper in Indiana.  And so far, with good results with over 140 deals done and 18,000 jobs committed to Indiana.  The letter attached a set of incentives that the IEDC has created for businesses:

·         EDGE – Economic Development for a Growing Economy – a refundable tax credit program created to reward companies creating new jobs with a percentage of payroll taxes credits passed back to the Company

·         HBITC – The Hoosier Business Investment Tax Credit – credits against Indianataxes for capital spending

·         SBIR – Small Business Innovation Research – matching funds for R&D efforts

·         SEF – Skills Enhancement Fund – financial assistance to companies for training (note trainees must be Indianaresidents so they don’t apply to imported talent)

·         21^st Century Research and Technology Funds – more funding for R&D

·         Industrial Recovery Tax Credit – incentives for investing in facilities requiring rehabilitiation

·         The Industrial Development Grant Fund – infrastructure funding for expansion of businesses and new jobs into Indiana

·         TECH Fund – The Technology Enhancement Certification Program – a corporation reimbursement grant for training employees in the information technology sector

·         VCI – Tax Credit program established to provide individual and company investors an incentive to invest in Indianaearly stage companies.

When I read through the brochure, I was both impressed and depressed at the incentives and programs. Impressed that the state is taking a stand to continue to build the economy, but depressed in that once again,  we see another set of programs which miss the most critical ingredient of business and economic success – the Talent to do the work.

While training is great, the reimbursement of training dollars to already state citizens will not provide incentives for new talent to flow into the state, nor will it create a great incentive for new businesses to move to the state only to have to retrain the current talent force.

There must be bolder moves by our legislators if we are to truly break through with innovation and the creation of new types of workers in our country.

Again, we call on our legislators to think outside the box.  Next week – we will give examples of what we think can be done.

Comments

[gl hoffman]

Hi...I am a serial entreprenuer, having started three companies, two of which have gone public. I think, modestly, I have created thousands of jobs. Trouble is, I am not a joiner--preferring to work and to spend time with my family. I have yet to have one call from anyone in government asking me to help out. In my home state of Kansas, I am sure they could use some actual ability in creating a company and employees out of nothing. Instead it seems to me these are programs designed for beaucrats to work on so they look good.
best--GL HOFFMAN
www.jobdig.com
http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds