The Key to a Great City is Talent, According to Chief Executive Article
A recent article in Chief Executive magazine highlights a report on the key factors that contribute to a successful city. While business activity, cultural experiences and political engagement made the list, their assessment shows the biggest contributor to a successful city is talent.
The report finds the cities that develop strategies for attracting and acquiring talent also attract investment. Lacking what the article called “human capital” is not only unattractive to potential talent, but can also be harmful to cities’ economic competitiveness. That’s why Michigan needs to invest in quality of life in our cities in order to make them more desirable to mobile talent.
Future outside investment and potential talent aren’t as likely to come to cities that aren’t flourishing. The key, especially for Michigan, is to create cities people love to live in. Residents enjoy the benefits they get from living and working in well-funded communities.
The article showed that “…the dimension ‘personal well-being’ accounts for factors such as stability and security, healthcare accessibility and income equality.”
The study also revealed that the “correlation between the presence of talent and the well-being of a city’s residents is strong. For example, Dallas jumped 17 spots in the human capital rankings and nine spots in personal well-being between 2015 and 2018.”
Meeting the needs of potential talent is essential for Michigan’s economy and communities. Successful cities grow with talent, and the amount of talent stems from the state’s investment in its people and services.
Unfortunately, Michigan has a broken financial system. The massive shortfall of revenue sharing dollars and divestment in localities has forced cities to make major cuts in services and resources that talent need and desire. A city cannot attract talent if it doesn’t have the fundamental necessities to operate. Increasing state investment in our cities would create a positive multiplier effect on our economy and help produce the growth Michigan needs.
Learn more about why – and how – Michigan can do that here.