As a part of its on-going Westchester Innovation Network (WIN) initiative, The Business Council of Westchester recently invited Paul Kalbfleish, a Canadian author of The Joy Experiments: Starting A New Conversation on City Building, to speak to its BCW Board of Directors.
RYE BROOK, N.Y., July 6, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- By: Dr. Marsha Gordon, President and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester
Paul Kalbfleish, Author of The Joy Experiments: Starting A New Conversation on City Building
As a part of its on-going Westchester Innovation Network (WIN) initiative, The Business Council of Westchester recently invited Paul Kalbfleish, a Canadian author of The Joy Experiments: Starting A New Conversation on City Building, to speak to its BCW Board of Directors. Paul is one of the world's foremost experts on innovative communities – attracting and retaining innovators for what Paul calls "the building of the habitat for human spirit." What ensued was a great conversation about what Westchester needs to be thinking about in order to create a vibrant, innovation ecosystem. What are the four key pillars of innovative communities? The good news is that much of this exists in pockets in Westchester – now we just need to harness it! Here are some examples of the areas that will create a vibrant innovation ecosystem in Westchester for the years to come:
Habitat of the Human Spirit
Traditional businesses can work and make decisions in silos, but when building infrastructure for the human spirit, it's better to think of cities and communities as interconnected habitats. We should continually look to connect businesses, government, and institutions at every stage of innovation. Seeking private and public partnerships, bringing in students of all ages to every program, finding new opportunities to create collaborative experiences and creative interactions is key. We need to demonstrate that the innovation and entrepreneurial career path is a viable one for students. The key to facilitating this level of creative interaction is to find ways to bring people together to facilitate joy and play, in addition to work and connections. Innovative communities spotlight art and creativity, they facilitate outdoor space interactions, they're playful and vibrant, and they breathe new life into struggling spaces.
Experimentation
There are no eureka moments in innovation. It is always a series of projects and experiments that offer insights and progress (even if they fail). Paul talks about the pressure to create the one big idea and how that's a problem. Instead, he advocates for the experimentation mentality – coming up with 50 brilliant ideas and testing and iterating on those to see what might stick. Driving toward one big idea is time consuming and risky. Instead, the experimentation approach and testing hypotheses is the way that innovative communities thrive. We need to create programs with enough guardrails to support and monitor, but without the constraints that would prohibit the level of creativity necessary to advance innovative thinking.
Eliminate Barriers
We cannot expect innovative companies or the talent they employ to conform to the processes and behaviors of the status quo. Lengthy, time consuming applications and processes will be rejected outright. We must eliminate barriers to entry and innovate the process. By making processes and procedures streamlined, more innovators will participate. Innovators do not have the patience or time for endless discussions and meetings without clear, attainable goals. And the speed with which they operate and need to get their products or services to market to get first mover advantage drives them away from anything they view as too time-consuming or wasteful of their valuable resources. They also will steer clear of anything that requires extensive reporting, metrics and measurement that will also take them away from their work. We must create structures, environments, and timelines that afford companies the ability to experiment and even fail once or twice before achieving success. We must understand the speed with which innovators move and appeal to that speed with our programs and activities. And we also have to understand that creating affordable spaces for both work and living are critical to ensuring that entrepreneurs can take risks and can stretch their valuable resources for the benefit of their idea.
You Attract What You Celebrate
Innovators breed more innovation. When you take the time to celebrate innovation and habitats for the human spirit, you attract more of the same. We need to identify the most creative, collaborative, and interesting work, spaces, leaders, innovative thinking, and collaboration and shine a light on it. When innovators and creators are highlighted, others will identify our communities as places that honor this type of work.
It's an interesting conversation to be sure and one that's critical to ensuring the next generation of vibrant businesses in Westchester. This blueprint for innovative communities only works if we have the energy and commitment of all of our leaders across business, non-profit, education and government to take the steps needed to behave differently. We are sure with the incredible leaders we have in Westchester in the sectors mentioned, we have a "jump start" on building this ecosystem. Now it's up to us to come together to build on these innovation pillars. The BCW Westchester Innovation Network (WIN) is making that happen. WIN is here to support every Westchester innovator & municipality.
Dr. Marsha Gordon is the President and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester, the largest and most influential business organization in Westchester County, NY. Dr. Marsha brings more than 25 years of community, commerce and leadership to the BCW. A sought-after speaker, panelist and media expert, Dr. Gordon is widely considered to be an authority on the business climate in Westchester and is regularly the "go-to" person on legislative and regulatory issues throughout the Hudson Valley.
Paul Kalbfleisch is a skilled writer and creative business leader, but primarily he is a creative collaborator, placing himself in the middle of large projects requiring a strong focus on vision and imaginative strategy. He has spent more than 20 years in senior roles developing innovative experiential programs, brand strategy in the tech sector, and community cultural strategies. He has a special focus in the area of real estate development projects as they relate to innovative city building.
About The Business Council of Westchester
The Business Council of Westchester is the county's only business membership organization focusing on economic development and advocacy. It is the county's largest and most prestigious business membership organization representing more than 1,000 members, including multinational corporations, hospitals, universities, biotech pioneers, not-for-profits, entrepreneurs, and companies of all sizes. As the most influential economic development and advocacy organization in Westchester, The Business Council of Westchester's members enjoy unparalleled access to today's leading thought leaders, diverse business development opportunities and lawmakers at all levels of government. The BCW Data Exchange provides the latest demographic research to help guide smart business decisions. The LEAP program, a one-of-a-kind initiative, gives members direct access to lobbying efforts at the county, state and national levels on issues that directly affect their businesses. Build, Connect and Win with The Business Council of Westchester. Visit thebcw.org to connect today.
Media Contact
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SOURCE Business Council of Westchester
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