Getting back to our roots
Kyle Morey
Approximately 60 years ago, a few business leaders in Scottsdale (AZ) were frustrated with the slow progress in local government to build the highways required to satisfy the demands of commerce. These business leaders had some ideas on how to improve the local economy by building the infrastructure and providing the tools needed for local commerce to bloom in the desert. As these business forefathers found common ground, they decided to concrete their relationship by forming a coalition that later became the chamber of commerce serving Scottsdale.
From my research, many early chambers – like the Scottsdale Chamber – were born out of the necessity to aid local government in providing the right tools and infrastructure for good commerce and voicing the opinion of the business community. Over the years, chambers adopted other models such as merging or forming convention and visitor bureaus to attract more customers to their business communities, or economic development initiatives to bring more companies to the area. More recently, chambers have formed because a few local business owners saw it as a way to self-promote.
Today, most chambers of our size offer similar packages of networking programs, educational training or workshops, and a lot of membership drives.
Question: what chamber model works in today’s hyper-connected, social-media driven, global economy? For example, now that I have LinkedIn and Facebook, BNI, and roundtables, why do I need my local chamber of commerce? After all, most cities/states have their own economic development partners or departments. I already get several calls a week asking me to support one initiative or another, why back my chamber of commerce?
Let’s look to our roots for some answers. As issues came forth in Anderson a hundred years ago, business leaders came together to solve it, and a chamber of commerce was born. The foundation blocks of this chamber include: 1) leadership, 2) finding common ground in the business community, and 3) tackling the issues impeding economic growth.
It’s not about a mixer. It’s about connecting people to create commerce. It’s not about an annual dinner. It’s about celebrating and toasting the positive among us. It’s not about sitting on a committee. It’s about finding common ground and solving the issues of the day. It’s not about a membership drive. It’s about driving our mission to cultivate, protect, and prosper our economy in Madison County.
It’s about people.
