Blog

One young Tunisian set himself on fire because he was deprived the dignity to work. 

That one man, that one act, inspired thousands to take to the streets to be heard and to demand economic democracy.  The drive for economic democracy is so deep it galvanized old and young, men and women, Muslims and Christians, and different tribes.  What we are seeing is a breathtaking alignment of previously opposing forces demanding economic participation and progress. 

What will the world CEOs talk about at Davos?  I hope they don't waste a breath on whether we are in recovery or not. Irrelevant.  

Every country rich and poor, fast and slow growing, is facing a jobs emergency.  The immediate and worldwide issue is job creation.  This issue exploded on the streets in Tunis is is reverberating around the world.

Every product and every service is getting smarter and cheaper. Why not economic development?

Why is it that technology has powered a new information economy, transformed industries from media to education, liberated workers from the cubicle, and yet economic development is untouched by these forces?  How is it that the costs of technology, communications and data have dropped to nearly zero and yet economic development costs more? 

Towards the end of 2009, the World Bank’s released its MENA DEVELOPMENT REPORT, From Privilege to Competition, Unlocking Private-Led Growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).  This is a document the world needs, because the world needs to unlock private-led growth in the Middle East, and everywhere else.

About 15 years ago I joined Michael Porter and a handful of adventurous types including Deirdre Coyle to create the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). The mission of our non-profit was to change the way the US saw its poor urban areas – transforming the dialogue from no hope to economic possibility.  This was a big task since the urban disturbances had taken place a short while before in Los Angeles and inner cities were mostly seen as hopeless.

After nearly a decade as the co-Executive Director of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, I had taken a time out.  I was curious about what was happening in the world and I read everything written on economic development outside of the US.   To keep me focused, I created a graduate course entitled “Competition and Innovation in the Next Economy” that I taught at Northeastern University in Boston and the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago – two of the most international and dynamic schools in the country. 

We have met the builders of the future – new leaders who grew up with the internet and access to images and ideas from around the world, who grew up in the era of rock star entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and the Google boys, who grew up in one country and studied in another, who speak several languages and move with ease between cultures.