Released Sept. 28, 2007

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- "We can't get to where we need to go by incremental change. We must envision the future we want, define the barriers, and create breakthroughs to make big steps forward.” --John Ahlen, President, Arkansas Science and Technology Authority

Ahlen is describing one of the key factors to success in the global, knowledge-based economy – that incremental improvements are insufficient in this new era of rapid change. Incremental and continuous improvement is absolutely necessary, but it’s not enough.

You could have the most efficient buggy whip factory in the world and still lose your shirt! Another point to remember is that the Wright Brothers didn’t invent the airplane while serving on an improvement committee of a railroad.

Over and over, we see how successful communities, regions, and businesses understand the forces of change in the world and create breakthroughs that will move them forward in dramatic ways.

As a useful exercise, think about your own community, organization, business, or life.

Can you identify breakthroughs that took place that led to tremendous progress? What brought about these breakthroughs?

Business Guru Tom Peters describes "WOW” experiences that can shape expectations in an entire industry. Vaughn Grisham, director of the McLean Center for Community Development at Ole Miss, documents this in his great case studies of ordinary people doing extraordinary things:

"I sometimes tell the story of this African-American school in Dallas. The poorest neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, the least educated, highest unemployment, lowest economic level. They began to look at their assets, and the principal asked the teachers – what do you need to get better? And the teachers said ‘We need better training. We need better education.’ The principal set up a network for training with the very best private schools in Dallas, Texas. We received the 91st percentile on achievement scores, with no dropouts, no kid ever in trouble. This is the kind of wow factor I am looking for.”

London Business School Professor Gary Hamel makes a powerful case for companies reinventing themselves to stay current:

"A recent Gallup survey of 500 CEOs asked them ‘Who took best advantage of change in your industry over the past ten years – newcomers, traditional competitors, or your own company?’ The No. 1 answer was newcomers. They were then asked whether those newcomers had won by ‘executing better’ or ‘changing the rules of the game.’ Fully 62 percent of the CEOs said the newcomers had won by changing the rules.

The cultivation of rice in Arkansas is another example of a breakthrough. William H. Fuller settled in Lonoke County and began experimenting with his first rice crop in 1897. It failed, so he moved to Louisiana, where he learned to grow rice.

He returned to Arkansas and with his brother-in-law John Morris, and assistance from the University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, planted more acres in 1903. The next year, the Experiment Station planted 160 acres, and the rice industry was launched in Arkansas. Last year, Arkansas farmers planted 1.4 million acres with a total value of $892 million.

Communities, regions, businesses, and organizations can be most successful if they seek breakthroughs when they address the critical issues confronting them. Furthermore, community leaders can learn how to effectively create breakthroughs.

One of the keys to creating breakthroughs is to ask the right questions. Instead of asking how we can solve this problem, who our competition is and how can we do things better, we can ask:

• What assets do we have to build on?
• Who could partner with us to address this issue?
• How can we do better things?
• What would a breakthrough look like for this issue?

For more information about how the U of A Cooperative Extension Service can help your community, contact your county extension agent or visit http://www.uaex.edu and select Business and Communities. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.

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http://www.uaex.edu/news/september2007/0928solutions.htm

Contacts: Mark Peterson, (501) 671-2253, mpeterson@uaex.edu

Lamar James, (501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207, ljames@uaex.edu