Seems harsh, doesn’t it?  But in today’s globally competitive world, it’s absolutely true – there is no “steady state” for an economy – it’s either growing or dying, and changes are occurring at an ever increasing rate.

Examples are all around us – the steel business moves to Asia so Cleveland and Pittsburgh are really hurt; the global automobile market evolves and Michigan is in deep economic trouble; and Ohio’s economy is hurting as well while centers of innovation like Boston, Austin and Silicon Valley are booming.

So, how about the Cincinnati Region? Seems like things are pretty good:

• Our economy is growing modestly
• Unemployment is reasonably low
• Our anchor companies like P&G, Kroger and Macy’s don’t seem to be going anywhere soon

So have we beat the rap? Are we simply a shining example of how at least one region can sustain modest growth and have a rosy future in the new global economy?

This kind of thinking is why we may be in the most precarious situation of all. Because our economy has continued to grow and we haven’t had the dramatic declines experienced by some of our neighbors, we’re pretty complacent. Bad idea.

Our region has been extremely fortunate compared to most of the heavy industry states. Our situation is OK for the moment, but will it stay that way if we don’t act? Almost certainly not. Global competitive forces are at work here as much as anywhere else, but like the famous quote attributed to Mark Twain – they’ll just arrive in Cincinnati 10 years later.

We can’t afford to have that happen. A growing, thriving economy is what drives almost everything else around us. I’ll talk more about this is a later blog.

Meanwhile, we all should be very thankful that we have organizations like the Cincinnati USA Partnership, CincyTechUSA, the Ohio Third Frontier Project, regional business incubators, venture investors, etc. all working hard to make certain growth in our region continues – and continues at an increasing pace.

In upcoming blogs, I’ll talk about why economic growth is so important to every person, every business  and every organization in our region.