Scratchin' The Surface of Workforce Development

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As I experience more and more, I continue to come back to some simple realities of things I hope for my profession, the one we rarely name-Workforce Development. Here I share some of these thoughts. 

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Workforce developers typically pride themselves on how much 'work' they do in a day. Their jobs require it. But, when do we network? When do we take the time to build relationships outside of those we are directly responsible to? Rarely in some cases. These relationships are critical for so many reasons. They're also vital to the business development process that's often overlooked for our obsession with checking boxes.  In this episode I talk a little about networking specifically with economic developers and developing business with industry partners in uncertain times...again, just scratching the surface! Join me for the final episode for season 1, I'll take a short break through August (this was recorded in July) and see you all again in late September. 

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There are critical occupations required to support most export industries. Where do they stand in your community?

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As the country depends more and more on 'workforce developers', I think there are critical skills that must be learned and employed to be successful at the local level. I share some of those here as I've heard from listeners that this content is what they're most interested in. Here you go! If you have other topics you'd like me to consider adding, please find me on LinkedIn and let's discuss! 

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Join me this episode as I chat about the harsh realities of living in survival mode,  antiquated workforce systems, robots, addiction, scarcity mentalities, hard decisions, hard conversations, and poor outcomes. Ultimately, workforce development is in a crossroads as it's become the sexy topic of the time period, but most still don't understand it. Our workforce is producing the skills  it was designed to produce, at the rate it was designed to-we MUST do something different if we are going to support THIS generation. It starts with actually being able to talk about the issues without special interests taking over, without the fear of losing a dollar entering the conversation.  We need a system that works with EVERYONE who wants to work-period. We need to stop accepting the concept that all training is upskilling, if we're going to be a truly 'more productive' society. I hit on a lot this episode, so come join me for the ride and let's chat!

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Join as Ryan Miller and I discuss the work his office, AccelerateMS, is doing in Mississippi. This new office has a broad mandate and is working to secure Mississippi's future. 

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We are coming off a big win in Mississippi and as I sat in the Capitol watching the Legislators do their part of this, my brain went to work. Economic, Workforce, and Community Development intersect in many ways, and sometimes not at all. Remember, we just scratch the surface of topics! 

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This week, I have the pleasure of hosting Matt Bogoshian, Executive Director of the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative. Matt is a leading policy expert and doing great things in the space of pulling varied groups of humans together to support manufacturing in America!  Check out their website at https://americanmcc.org/ and I urge you to sign up for their weekly calls AND their newsletter. Some fantastic connection points! 


Note: Due to my editing cycle, Matt was my first actual guest, but Reuben's episode aired first. 

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Join us as Reuben, Associate Vice President for Research at Mississippi State University (More here: https://www.research.msstate.edu/directory/rfb2) and I discuss all things workforce, our partnerships, and the work he and his university are doing to support manufacturing in Mississippi. 

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We spend a lot of time in workforce development discussing deficiencies. Join me as I talk about how I believe we have to move forward as communities, regions, states, and, frankly, the country. We can only control our small portion of it but I do think there are ways to move forward and get big wins.