Forbes Magazine just ranked the "Best States For Business," and I for one am outraged at the 44th-place ranking Wisconsin received.
And before we all point the proverbial finger at someone else for this, we need to take a long hard look at ourselves. We are not good at doing what need to be done to attract new business to the state and promote and nurture the businesses that are already here.
How is it that the state with the 8th-best quality of life ranking (in the same article) cannot be more attractive to business? High taxes? Not really. We are up there, but so are states ranked in the top 10. Growth? Not as bad as some. Production? Nope, we do well here. Marketing? No, we spend a fair amount.
The numbers don’t tell the story. We do.
The real problem is that we are far better at complaining than we are at promoting. Virginia, Utah and Washington, the "leaders" and movers on the list, are committed to talking about their success stories. These states promote their quality of life, they encourage business to visit and test the waters, they respect growth and they have enlisted their existing businesses as partners in all out self-promotion. We seem to enlist our businesses to complain about the status quo. It now appears that other sates are hearing the message and staying away.
So, how do we fix this? Simple. First, change the message. Second, change the messenger. We cannot rely on Madison or a public relations firm to repair the damage. We need to fix this.
I issue a personal challenge to all of us. Call someone outside the state and tell them why Wisconsin is in fact a great place to do business. Then quietly call your state and local officials and tell them to prove you right!
Ken Harwood of Verona, Wis., is a commercial real estate broker with Park Towne Development. He is the Editor of News and Notes and www.WisconsinDevelopment.com, both electronic news outlets for economic development in the state. He also is the former mayor of Neenah and is currently a member of the Verona City Council. He may be reached at editor@WisconsinDevelopment.com.
