Don Quixote Rides Again - Chapter One: Hyper Creative Class

(This post begins the last installment of my four part post addressing the issue of building a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas.)

When I concluded my previous post on this topic (part 3 of 4), I promised to suggest several possibilities that might give Fort Smith a bigger rudder – one powerful enough to steer our ship clear of the Tipping Point report’s icebergs.

I’ll start off thinking pretty far outside the box and work my way back in later on. But first, let me lay some ground work for an idea on loan from Richard Florida who wrote a series of books describing the coming rise of the Creative Class and the Hyper Creative Class. And just to make sure I give credit where it is due, Mark also developed the key points of the related business development plan I'm about to describe in this post. Having said that, let me summarize Richard Florida's concepts. In short, the Creative Class includes those who utilize brain power as a primary tool to accomplish their job. The prime examples of this class include engineers, architects, accountants, attorneys, and others who combine advanced professional knowledge with skill and experience to create business solutions. The Hyper Creative Class takes the brain power of the Creative Class and compounds it by adding elements of traditionally creative processes. Hyper Creatives include software developers, video game developers, interactive designers, interactive developers, advertising planners, graphic designers, interior designers, and many others.

The Hyper Creative Class is people who have the right-brain ability of the Creative Class, but must add a left-brain component. These people have jobs seek them out rather than seek out jobs. These type people find cultural amenities a priority for themselves. The Hyper Creative Class finds what they want and then relocate to the place that provides it - knowing their work will follow them.

And at this point I want to make an absolutely critical point. The Tip Strategies report created for Fort Smith strongly urged our region to commit itself to creating a “quality of place” that would attract new residents. That “quality of place” concept was the brain child of Richard Florida and he specifically states that quality of place is something that motivates only the Creative Class to relocate or homestead. The rest of us may enjoy it, but only the Creative Class chooses where they will live based on quality of place. Remember, everyone else follows a job. The Creative Class moves to the place they want to live based on the quality of experience they find there knowing that jobs will find them. In the past a community attracted businesses in order to grow. Today, we need to attract people and, specifically, creative people who bring great jobs and disposable income with them.

Fort Smith can attract a small but growing segment of the Hyper Creative Class. The TIP Strategies report outlined that the sales and marketing services segment of the population was largely missing from our region. With modest effort but maximum focus, the Greater Fort Smith Region can attract Hyper Creatives who focus on interactive marketing components such as web site development, email marketing, on-line community creation, and video game development. I am not talking about people and companies who simply do business on-line, but rather those who create the brands and technical components used by companies who do e-commerce. UAFS has already added a greater focus to components of their curriculum related to this idea. Next year the university will graduate their first crop of students with B.S. degrees in Graphic Design. And I'd love to see the administration seriously consider developing a specialized school of video game design - linking highly technical and highly creative processes in precisely the kind of right-brain-left-brain cross-talk that characterizes the Hyper Creative Class.

Through focused individual recruitment, tradeshow marketing and trade magazine marketing, a thoughtful and well developed campaign can slowly move independent Hyper Creatives and related small companies (those with less than 100 employees) to Fort Smith. 75 to 100 target companies can be identified immediately. By working with one of the trade publications which target members of this industry, Fort Smith could create, promote and host a conference built around the interactive industry, particularly the small shop business with less than 25 employees. The trade publication would brand the conference with their name in order to provide legitimacy and encourage attendance. A conservative first year goal would be 50 attendees at the conference. A working title for the conference would be "The Interactive Agency Workshop." UAFS's related programs could be featured and promoted.

Additionally, the Greater Fort Smith Region would conduct trade show marketing at two or three other conferences a year. This can be pricey - conferences can cost up to $10,000 each just to exhibit and that does not include any of the collateral materials, promotional items, or travel expenses associated with truly effective trade show marketing. The upside of the tradeshow experience is that the exhibitor can meet one-on-one with potential recruits simply by pre-scheduling meetings during non-conference time. And that increases the success rate dramatically.

The “Find Yourself In Fort Smith” (FYIFS) brand would be a perfect fit for this campaign and could easily be expanded to highlight the many genuine amenities we have that, when properly marketed, represent a strong attraction to Hyper Creative Class members looking for quality of place. The expansion of the FYIFS would need to be specifically targeted to the Hyper Creative Class. Cameron Clement at Rockfish Interactive is already working closely with the Greater Fort Smith Regional Chamber marketing effort and he knows what the Hyper Creative Class wants. We need to listen closely and utilize his wisdom, knowledge and passion to see Fort Smith move toward a brighter future.

The Central Business Improvement District should consider developing a loft or condo style building that would be a turnkey solution for related businesses. Obviously, this requires private development dollars working in tandem public money to create this specific building opportunity. And the CBID needs to see this project as a very long-term investment in the infrastructure of the city they love. They need to make a commitment to enhance the results of this specific campaign by creating a unique, authentic and remarkable space - while resisting the understandable urge to extract direct profit today at the expense of greater but indirect profit in the decades to come.

And here’s something I bet you didn’t know. We are very fortunate that we have five interlocking pieces of the internet backbone running through Fort Smith. Those who create within and for the internet need not be in close physical proximity to such a monstrous bandwidth pipeline. But the companies who employ large numbers of those people and employ the tools they create would definitely benefit from it. To put this in perspective, the internet pipeline running through Fort Smith is one of the ten largest in the United States. Dallas does not currently have access to as much internet bandwidth as does Fort Smith. This fact has to become one of the highlights of the campaign.

So here’s what we need to make this happen. The City of Fort Smith, The Greater Fort Smith Region Chamber of Commerce, the City of Van Buren, surrounding communities, and the State of Arkansas Department of Economic Development must all get on the same page - now. We need to fund and implement this campaign within the next six months. To my knowledge, no other community is specifically targeting this segment of the Hyper Creative Class – but that won’t last long. And, as I've said in previous posts, there must be a champion with the pedigree and capability of a Bennie Westphal to lead the way.

The author of “Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida notes, "the creative class, 38 million strong in the U.S., produces a disproportionate share of wealth, accounting for nearly half of all wages and salaries earned - as much as the manufacturing and service sectors combined." Targeting this growing segment of the economy would move the Fort Smith region to the front of the pack in the country. Unfortunately, we are currently ranked near the bottom of the pack in Arkansas when it comes to current jobs in the Hyper Creative Class. It won't be cheap or easy to recruit and retain those who work within this segment of our economy. Creative types are appreciate but demanding. But the effort to incorporate this group of people into our community will pay future dividends we can only begin to imagine today.

The Horseshoe Footprint

(This is part three of my four part post addressing the issue of building a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Please read part one, "Milking The Cobra," and part two, “Brutal Reality,” before tackling this part.)

While in Omaha last week I picked up a copy of the local newspaper. I didn’t have to buy the paper because it was a complimentary copy furnished by the nearby Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. My paper was wrapped in a double-sided-full-color-heavyweight-newsprint advertisement for the Horseshoe. The front side of the page told me I could “indulge without apology” in their 100,000 square foot casino. The back side promised “Five Times the Fun” and a $9.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. A complimentary shuttle would pick me up at my hotel upon request. In case you’re wondering, Council Bluffs http://www.councilbluffsiowa.com/ is in Iowa – just across the Missouri River from Omaha. http://www.visitomaha.com/

The Horseshoe is operated by Harrah’s, the same company that would operate the proposed casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, and it’s a totally professional set up. Once you’re inside you can’t tell the difference between The Horseshoe and any casino you might visit in Vegas. So Harrah’s does everything possible to get you and your money inside The Horseshoe Casino - and they do just as much to make sure you and your money never have any reason to leave. If you’re actively gambling, your preferred beverage will be delivered to your location on the gaming floor by an attractive cocktail waitress. If you are known to the staff as a frequent gambler, your food will be furnished free of charge at one of the casino’s three gourmet restaurants. And if you leave enough money behind at the tables you’ll find the concierge happy to provide you with a complimentary hotel room, the size and luxury of which are mysteriously connected to the depth of your losses. In fact, it is a fundamental business principal for any successful casino to keep the customer on the property and at the tables as long as possible. And there’s the rub…

No matter what statistics may say, and no matter what positive benefits may be connected with a world-class casino/hotel complex in a town like Fort Smith, I just can’t get past what I’ve seen with my own bad eye. Casinos like the one proposed for Fort Smith do everything in their power to keep people and their money on the casino property. And it will be pretty much impossible to convince me that the future Fort Smith casino operation would be truly pleased if anyone attracted to Fort Smith by that casino spent a single dollar “off the reservation.”

But in the end, although debate on the pros and cons of a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith may energize those of us wrestling with the issues at hand, it will have little impact on the outcome. Why? For two reasons which represent opposite sides of the same coin. First, there is no support for the idea anywhere within the Arkansas political delegation. Second, the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes have already established nearby casinos from which a Fort Smith based casino/hotel would drain revenue – and those tribes spend millions of dollars every year on political lobbying campaigns to protect their interests.

So here is my conclusion. With all due respect to Bennie Westphal, I do not believe there is a way to complete the Keetowah Casino & Hotel complex before Fort Smith’s Titanic hits the iceberg identified in the TIP Strategies report.

I’ve only met Mr. Westphal once but from what I’ve seen and heard I seriously doubt that he will give up in the face of political opposition. And I am not so arrogant to think that I have all the information available. In fact, I am absolutely certain that Bennie Westphal knows far more about this issue than I ever will. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine what information could come to light that would alter my basic conclusion.

And now it’s time to put up or shut up. If I’m so willing to figure out what can’t be done, I owe it to my community to figure out what can be done - and take whatever action is within my power to help. I’m going to start by suggesting several possibilities here and elaborating in my next post.

1. Recruit members of the Hyper Creative Class and their related businesses to our region.
2. Establish a major intermodal port facility on the Arkansas River.
3. Develop a privately owned and operated multi-sport athletic complex along the riverfront.
4. Permanently locate an active duty Army Brigade at Fort Chaffee.
5. Create an entrepreneurial incubator designed specifically for the Hyper Creative business.
6. Continue to coordinate with and aggressively support UAFS

I guess this means that part four of this post will have six chapters. Look for chapter one in the next few days.

Space Wars - The Reality

I just finished reading a new book called Space Wars.

If you've ever read an issue of Aviation Week cover-to-cover and you have read more than one Tom Clancy book, you'll definitely want to read Space Wars as soon as possible.

If you prefer James Joyce or William Faulkner, skip it.

The book is heavy on weapons tech and light on character development but it rises above those limitations to grab your attention - particularly if you want to know what's really out there in the "black world" of covert and space military operations. My strongest criticism is that the authors write with a definite conservative political agenda that reduces anyone with an alternative point of view to one-dimensional, self-serving caricatures. The authors make no attempt at all to even guess what might cause other intelligent human beings to hold very different opinions than their own regarding what is right and what is wrong in the world. Even so, because of that very flaw, the book unintentionally opens a window into the mind of those in our country who believe that doves are traitors and hawks are the only true patriots.

But the most profound insight of all is how the authors quite accurately describe the astounding vulnerability of the spaced-based "assets" so many of us have unknowingly woven into the everyday fabric of our lives. As the authors quite accurately illustrate, U.S. national security has come to depend heavily on an incredibly fragile network of unguarded satellites whose amazing hi-tech capabilities can be rendered useless with relatively little effort.

Space Wars tells the story of what might very well happy if that network were attacked and disabled. Yes, the authors see the political world through a soda straw. But as narrow as their view of politics may be, they have an equally broad view of something very few people understand: World War III will be fought in and from a new military battleground - space.

A Great Friend

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
My 13-year-old Golden Retriever died today. His name was Maclean (pronounced "Mack Clain"). I took the name from the author of the book "A River Runs Through It." Maclean was an amazing dog.

After my wife and I spent our last year in the Air Force stationed at separate bases in Korea, we left the military and moved in temporarily with my father in Oklahoma City. We were going to move to Fort Smith, Arkansas where I was to continue flying the F-16 as a member of the 188th Fighter Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard. Not long after returning from Korea I interviewed for a job as a pilot at American Airlines and was hired there in May of 1992. I bought a Golden Retriever puppy for Sherri from a breeder in Oklahoma City. We named him Pratt. When we moved to our new home in Fort Smith we bought another Golden Retriever and named her Whitney. Shortly after that I began to spend a great deal of time away from home - either flying for American Airlines or flying for the Air National Guard. Pratt & Whitney became Sherri’s close friends. When Pratt was one year old he was out with Sherri for a walk in an open field near our house. Our best guess is that Pratt had a sudden heart attack. He was dead long before we got him to the vet. Sherri and I were heartbroken and Sherri was very lonely. So was Whitney.

And that led me to begin the search for the Golden Retriever who would become Maclean. I made a lot of phone calls, read a lot of books and magazines, talked to a lot of breeders and finally made contact with a lady named Mickey Strandberg in Wisconsin. One of her big-time hunting Golden Retrievers was about to have a litter of puppies. Seven weeks later I flew into Milwaukee, rented a car and drove halfway to Madison and was rewarded with the pick of the litter. I chose one that looked like all the rest but seemed to have the greatest interest in chasing a small rolled up sock. He was energetic, would look me in the eye, would lie on his back in my arms (but not for too long) and liked to play. I placed a blanket in my small pet carrier and brought the pup home with me on the airplane. We drove together to O’Hare Airport where I returned the rental car, cleared security and carefully placed Maclean in the front cargo compartment of an American Airlines jet. The flight took us to Tulsa, Oklahoma where Sherri was waiting to pick up us for the two hour drive to Fort Smith. It was a two-dog house again.

Whitney, our other Golden Retriever, was patient with Maclean – and she had to be. He climbed all over her, chewed on her ears, chased her around the house and generally annoyed her with his constant motion. I began to train Maclean to retrieve from the first day he moved in with us. It was all a game – a fun, wonderful game – where I would throw a rolled up sock and he would run and retrieve. Even as a two-month old pup, Maclean lived to run.

As time went on I began to train Maclean more seriously using the small pond located at the Air National Guard base ten minutes from our house. Before he was one year old, Maclean was retrieving dummies from land and water. He ran faster than any dog I’d ever seen short of a greyhound. And he swam so fast that he created a wake in the water. The colder the air or water the better he liked it. One frigid February day we went out to the pond to find it completely frozen. Maclean looked at me and whined like a baby until I finally broke a hole in the ice. He promptly plopped his butt in the frigid water and lay down on the ice. There was a dirt road that circled the open field nearby and I would let Maclean follow me as I drove my old pick up truck around the track. Before long he was effortlessly running over a mile non-stop. After several months of training I decided to see how fast Maclean could run for a short burst. When he finally started to fall behind the speedometer was at 28 mph. He was an amazing athlete.

Not long after that, American Airlines decided that it no longer had need of my services and furloughed me along with 450 other pilots. I was faced with earning a living for my family in whatever way I could. And that meant taking short-term military assignments in various places throughout the country and the world. Maclean’s serious training came to a halt but we replaced the training with frequent trips to the pond or field to retrieve for fun. But in the end, my dreams of Maclean earning ribbons and titles at field trials and hunt tests evaporated. But our friendship grew stronger.

There were many times that Maclean was the first to great me when I came home late at night after a longer than normal work day. He was always ready to go whenever I was – always ready to chase another dummy – always looking for an excuse to run fast. The first time I went hunting with Maclean - for pheasant in Missouri - he scented a bird in the brush that had grown up around a barbed wire fence and jumped in to chase. When I finally got him out of the brush he was cut in several places and bleeding profusely from his ear. He acted as if he hadn’t felt a thing. Obviously, Maclean’s tolerance for pain was off the scale. I finally got his ear to stop bleeding and patched him up with a butterfly bandage. When I cleaned the wound he never even flinched.

Which probably explains why we didn’t know he had a tumor growing in his belly until it was too late. One day a few weeks ago Maclean began to lay around the house all day. Now that’s not unusual for a 13 year old dog who isn’t supposed to live longer than 15 years anyway. But it was unusual for Maclean. We wondered if he was getting arthritis or just slowing down. Even so, he was always up and around whenever we called. But then one day he didn’t want to get up at all.

Maclean began to want to lay still. And then he lost his appetite. When we took him to our vet we discovered that Maclean had a large mass in his abdomen that would require surgery to remove. Our vet warned us that a dog as old as Maclean might not tolerate surgery well and that the mass would likely be cancer of the spleen. Our choice was difficult: put a 13-year-old dog through major abdominal surgery in hopes that the cancer had not spread and the tumor could be removed granting him another 2 to 3 years of life or.... I didn’t like the “or.”

In the end, we talked about it as a family and decided that Maclean was a truly exceptional dog and that he would probably be able to recover from the surgery. We also decided that it just would not be right to put Maclean to sleep – euthanize him – without knowing for sure that there was no way he could get well. So, last Wednesday, we put Maclean in the back of the pickup and took a ride to the vet’s office. Dr. Thames’ schedule was full that day so he graciously agreed to do the surgery after business hours later that evening. We waited in the open field adjacent to the animal clinic and let Maclean explore and sniff and do what dogs do in an open field knowing that this might be his last day with us. While we waited, a man pulled up in a pick up truck towing a duck hunting boat. In the bag of the pick up was a very old and frail Black Lab. The dog’s owner, a hulk of a man, picked the dog up out of the truck, set him gently on the ground and let him wander around the open field with Maclean. The two dogs sniffed each other briefly and went back to exploring other things. The Lab was terribly thin and couldn't walk well but his nose must have been working as well as ever because he found all the places Maclean had marked in the past few minutes. The man led his old friend back over to the duck boat just as Dr. Thames came out of his clinic. They put the dog into the boat. The man looked into the lab's eyes and took the dog’s head in his hands while the doctor did what had to be done. The hulk of a man started shaking, bent over the side of the boat. Dr. Thames and his assistant did the only thing they could do – they cried with the man and then walked back into the clinic to prepare for the surgery they would do on Maclean. After a few long minutes the man’s body stopped shaking and he lifted his head, wiped his face, and walked back to the truck. Just as he opened the door he stopped short, turned and walked back to the boat where he bent over and began shaking all over again. This time the shaking lasted a little longer but when he raised his head and wiped his eyes he walked back to the truck without hesitation, got in and drove away.

A few minutes later, the vet’s assistant came out of the clinic to tell us that Dr. Thames was ready to start the surgery. My youngest son took Maclean’s leash and walked him into the building and into the surgery room. Now came the hardest part. We had to tell Maclean goodbye before he was sedated because if he couldn’t get well we would not wake him up from the surgery. The last words Maclean heard were mine, “Good boy! Maclean is a good boy!” I said it loudly because he couldn’t hear so well anymore. I took Maclean’s head in my hands and held him as the doc sedated him.

The surgery started several minutes later. It wasn’t long before I saw for myself what had made Maclean want to lay still. He had a large tumor growing on his spleen. I asked the doctor if there was any point in continuing the surgery. He was optimistic because he did not see any immediate evidence that the cancer had spread. He carefully removed the tumor and began to examine the other organs in the body. It was then that he looked up and said, with tears in his eyes, “I’m so sorry.” The tumor had spread to Maclean’s liver and other internal organs. I left the room long enough to tell my waiting family the bad news – to hold them as they cried – and then returned to Maclean. I put my head on his and I after I stopped shaking I raised my head, wiped my eyes, asked the doc to stop Maclean’s heart. A few moments later, my buddy stopped breathing – and stopped hurting – and I was alone in a room with two people who just watched another man lose his best friend.

My youngest son, the one who loves to hunt and had a special connection wtih Maclean asked "the" question later that night. "Dad, will Maclean be in heaven when we get there?"

I was as honest as I knew how to be and told him that I really, really hoped so.

We both cried a while and told each other our favorite stories about the life we shared with a great friend named Maclean.

Brutal Reality

(This is part two of my four part post addressing the issue of building a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Please read part one, "Milking The Cobra," before tackling this part.)

It took me quite a while to process all my conflicting thoughts and feelings on the issue of building a casino in Fort Smith. In my military travels to Nellis Air Force Base I’ve resided in Las Vegas hotel/casinos for weeks at a time and I’ve tried various casino games. I’ve even gone so far as to read a couple of books on poker and craps so I could play those games and not look or play like a knothead. But in the process I discovered that I don’t enjoy gambling. It holds no temptation for me at all. I just don’t get it.

However, I have seen the damage gambling addiction can do on a personal level in the life of a relative. This guy nearly ruined his life using gambling as his “drug of choice.” It is worth noting that my relative lives more than 100 miles from the nearest casino and was a gambling addict long before he ever stepped foot in a legal gambling establishment. Gambling got to him because he - just like you - is surrounded by opportunities to gamble in his smaller-that-average-American-home-town. Just because you can’t or won’t see gambling around you doesn’t mean it’s not there - or that your home town is not already dealing with its negative effects.

On the other hand, I know many people who use gambling responsibly - in the same way they use alcohol responsibly – as an entertaining tool to enhance social interaction and relaxation – without ill effect. And that brings me to a pet peeve – I really detest the practice of managing or governing to the lowest common denominator. Other than weak leadership, there is rarely if ever a valid reason to restrict 100% of those who might enjoy an activity responsibly because 4% of the population can’t handle it. In short, gambling is not a ten commandments issue - it is a personal responsibility issue.

I have recently heard it argued quite persuasively that Christians should not engage in or condone gambling because it is impossible to gamble without breaking the Golden Rule – love others as yourself – and to look out for the interests of others as well as yourself. But if we followed that argument to its logical conclusion we would ban all forms of competition because someone wins and someone loses and because people bet on sports. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. Perhaps more to the point, when I “lost” money in a casino it never entered my mind that I was someone else’s victim. No one forced me to walk through the doors. No one held a gun to my head and said, “Bet on red.” I am personally responsible for my own actions. I voluntarily participated in a game of chance and skill and, after winning a little and losing my predetermined limit, considered myself to have been sufficiently entertained and walked away just like 96% of people who gamble.

Having established that I believe the use of gambling to be a personal responsibility issue, I am the first to acknowledge that gambling can be – often is - a door to darkness. And some proponents of the Fort Smith casino project decline to acknowledge that reality. Some would even have us believe that hosting a casino is not at all a risky proposition. They avoid the fact that the purveyors of illicit sex, drugs and pornography have a habit of co-locating with casino operations. Although painting a rosy picture of the casino project may build support in the near term, it does nothing to prepare us for the reality we will face when the new wears off or to better cope with the negative effects of gambling we already experience in Fort Smith. Situations like this always reminded of the Stockdale Paradox.

Admiral Stockdale, the senior ranking POW in Vietnam’s Hanoi Hilton prison camp (and the recipient of some of the most brutal torture you can imagine) emerged from that seven year hell-on-earth with a piece of paradoxical advice for us all. He said, “Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be.”

So what constitutes our particular set of “most brutal facts?”

First – and this is a big one for me – building and marketing a casino complex in Fort Smith (and it will be heavily and widely marketed) will cause Fort Smith to be labeled as a gambling destination. Ever hear of Tunica? How about Gulfport? Have you ever tried to overcome a label? Have you ever tried to convince someone you have more to offer than your label indicates? More often than not, weary from the effort to prove otherwise, we reconcile ourselves with our label, make the best of it, and comfort ourselves with the knowledge that those who love us most know better. The reality is that if we build and market a Fort Smith casino the rest of the world will think of us as a gambling entertainment destination with a few worthy side attractions like the Marshals Museum. If we later decide we want to overcome that gambling destination label we'll spend a tremendous amount of money and, ultimately, fail. I realize that some folks have no problem with the “gambling destination” label and even consider it a worthy goal. But, in my gut, I feel like that sells Fort Smith short of its potential. My point here is that we better make our peace with the label before we build the casino.

Second, we can restate the premise with which we started – Fort Smith must change or die. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that’s a brutal fact.

Third, there are many people in the Greater Fort Smith Region who will refuse to change if that change includes a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith. I have spoken to several Fort Smith citizens – people who would argue that they love Fort Smith as much as anyone – who truly and passionately believe it would be better for Fort Smith to die than become Tunica West. I’m not particularly sympathetic with that point of view but I have to acknowledge it as a strongly held opinion among many people I respect who wield significant influence in Fort Smith. In short, this is a polarizing issue.

Fourth, building a casino/hotel in Fort Smith will cut a deep trench of resentment, alienation and distrust between those who see gambling as reprehensible and those who see it as recreation. Without knowing with certainty how many people stand passionately on either side of the issue there is no way to responsiblly forecast the degree of damage - but there will be damage. I can’t intelligently suggest that we abandon the casino/hotel project because it will be divisive. But make no mistake – it will be very divisive for many years to come. I believe this to be our “stingray” issue. In the words of Steve Irwin, "Danger, danger, danger!"

In light of all this brutal reality, I have tried hard to develop alternatives to Mr. Westphal’s casino complex plan - ideas that can truly transform Fort Smith. With the help of a few friends I've been able to piece together another option and I’ll write about that in part three of this post.

But there is a logic-of-reality limitation here – those ideas are mine rather than Bennie Westphal’s.

The brute force of reality is that although J.D. Williams may have some great ideas, he is not the guy to lead Fort Smith into the future – that guy is named Bennie Westphal. Mr. Westphal is uniquely qualified to lead Fort Smith away from the Tipping Point. Other people whose opinions I deeply respect have arrived at very different conclusions about the casino project. But the reality is that they do not have the influence – personal, political and financial – necessary to lead the horse called Fort Smith to water – let alone make it drink.

Now at this very moment there are some Friends of Fort Smith who are screaming at their computer screens because they believe with all their heart that Mr. Westphal is leading that horse to a poison well. So, let me assure them that if someone comes up with a better idea that can actually change the course of Fort Smith’s economic future - and the person who champions the idea can command the respect and influence necessary to pull it off - I’ll be “all in.” (So to speak)

But all sides now acknowledge that Fort Smith is withering away and is perilously close to the wrong side of the “tipping point.” How do we know that? The Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce paid an internationally respected consulting company a lot of money to evaluate our city and region. What they learned is that Fort Smith is in decline and will soon die if we do not act decisively and urgently to change – and change dramatically. That report was delivered to our community over three years ago. Since then a few organizations have initiated programs that take positive but small steps in the right direction. UAFS and the 188th BRAC reversal are huge success stories but they represent either an expansion or extension of the status quo. The reality is that in the three years since we received the grim prognosis from the Tip Strategies organization, no one - I repeat – no one besides Bennie Westphal has developed and championed a truly a comprehensive plan to boldly and dramatically lead Fort Smith in a new direction. Mr. Westphal is willing to put his own fortune and reputation on the line to see this casino complex become reality. Why? Why would a man who could today retire quite comfortably be willing to risk so much of his personal wealth and suffer the opposition and ostracism of so many fellow citizens and community leaders? Because he believes that a town can die and that Fort Smith, the boyhood home he loves dearly, is on the road to extinction.

Sometimes the logic of words must yield to - not just the logic - but the brute force of reality. In this situation the brutal reality is this: There is no better idea – let alone someone to champion it – for Fort Smith.

So are we really left with this ultimatum? Build a casino or die? I’m not ready to accept that scenario. I do, however, accept the scenario that Fort Smith must change dramatically or die a slow death. And if I can’t come up with a better idea or find a way to make the best of the available options, I’m part of the problem rather than the solution.

In part three of this post, I’ll attempt to be part of the solution.

Ever heard of Don Quixote?

Piece of Cake

Over the years I've been asked many times to describe what it's like to be a fighter pilot. And I've also been asked if air combat is really the way it looks in the movie Top Gun. I always remind folks that Top Gun was produced by Hollywood and was never meant to be a documentary. It's also worth noting that Top Gun was filmed in 1985 - before the dawn of today's mind blowing computer generated imagery (CGI). In fact, it was just the year before that a ground breaking film called The Last Starfighter was released in which, for the first time ever, significant portions of the film were animated exclusively using what were at the time cutting edge CGI sequences - even though that's not what they called it back then. As a closet computer geek I remember reading about the unimaginable computing power it took to create scenes for that movie. And today, Cartoon Network routinely produces episodes of Jimmy Neutron that make the CGI in The Last Starfighter look like it came out of the Crayola factory. So considering the technology available at the time, I'd say that Top Gun did about as good a job as possible in recreating air combat on film and still making a blockbuster movie in the process - and most of the fighter jocks I know would agree. Of course, the movie did not depict real fighter pilots - just a bunch of sailors dressed up like fighter pilots.

If you really want to get an understanding of fighter combat, I highly recommend the new History Channel series entitled Dogfights. It truly is the next best thing to being there. The digital recreations of the actual dogfights discussed are spot on. I've studied those famous aerial knife fights in the past. I've even talked to a few of the aces they interview in Dogfights. But while watching the show I still picked up a few pointers I missed the first time around.

But if you want to know what it is like to be in a fighter squadron - to know about fighter pilots themselves - there's really only one choice in video. Back in 1988 the BBC created a mini-series for Masterpiece Theater called Piece of Cake. The series chronicles the experiences of a Royal Air Force fighter squadron in the days leading up to the Battle of Britain. The characters in the script could have been lifted right out of the F-16 squadrons in my past. Piece of Cake does contain some rather glaring historical inaccuracies. For example, the squadron is flying Spitfires in the movie during a time frame when Hurricanes would have been in use. But if you will just suspend your disbelief you'll be rewarded with what are the best Spitfire and Messerschmidt flying sequences ever filmed. The quality of the DVD version of this film is disappointing. Even so, I recommend the DVD to anyone who is interested knowing what goes on behind the scenes in a fighter outfit.

Milking the Cobra

(This is part one of a four part post to be published over the next few weeks. Part one - this post - is an attempt to establish a premise or two on which the following posts will build. Please do not assume that this post alone reveals where I stand on the issue addressed.)

I am nothing if not a searcher. Always have been.

And so I find myself searching again. This time I’m searching to discover two things – what is best for Fort Smith and what is possible for Fort Smith. Where those two circles intersect is, I believe, where Fort Smith must find its future and make it real. And what happens if those two circles do not intersect? One must then redefine what is best or what is possible - or both. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, let’s start with a fundamental premise. The entire complex business organism called Fort Smith, Arkansas must change dramatically or it will soon – very soon – enter a downward economic spiral from which it cannot recover. If you have not accepted that premise don’t waste your time reading this post. If you have accepted that premise, consider this idea on loan from former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis...

The logic of words should yield to the logic of realities.

I want to use that statement as a framework to examine the issue of the proposed casino complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Logic of Words: Gambling does not exist in Fort Smith, Arkansas
Logic of Reality: Gambling is almost everywhere in Fort Smith and, although largely underground, is easily accessible. Don’t believe me? Ask around. If you want to gamble in Fort Smith - especially on sports - it is incredibly easy to do so. The majority of the negative side effects created by the presence of gambling are already in Fort Smith - and have been for a long, long time. In fact, we’ve already learned to cope with those effects. And the reality is that we're already equipped to deal with the downside of casino gambling because, for all practical purposes, casino gambling already exists in Fort Smith.

Logic of Words: Casino gambling does not exist in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Logic of Reality: Any able bodied resident of Fort Smith can literally walk to two different casinos. I live within the city limits of Fort Smith and my kids can be in the parking lot of an Indian Casino in 10 minutes – riding their bikes. And those casinos are filled with cars belonging to residents of the Greater Fort Smith Region. In fact, my neighborhood casino just tripled the size of its parking lot and it's still full more often than not. In reality, preventing the building of a casino on the Fort Smith riverfront will at best only slow – not reduce or eliminate - the increase in the negative effects created by existing local casinos and gambling.

Logic of Words: Casinos are always completely bad for a community.
Logic of Reality: Let me be clear - I oppose the entire idea of a stand-alone casino. I would campaign against the construction of a typical Indian casino in Fort Smith. If the proposed casino operation in Fort Smith does not include carefully planned and expertly managed development of a first class hotel/casino resort facility along with the associated businesses and amenities designed to draw out the significant potential benefits of such an operation to the host city, I will actively campaign against it. But what the Westphal Group has designed cannot be even remotely described as a stand-alone casino. It is a complex of interrelated business activities designed to enhance the potential positive economic impact and community benefits of the casino/hotel that anchors it. That, in turn, would provide a counterbalance to the negative effects Fort Smith already experiences due to existing underground gambling and nearby stand-alone casinos. Why? Because a professionally operated casino/hotel is an economic engine which can – I emphasize the word “can” - drive elaborate and wisely designed networks of surrounding business concerns, community enhancements, and tourist attractions. Are there negative effects from hosting a casino of any kind in our community? Of course! But the majority of those negative effects are already present in our city. The increase in those effects created by the casino/hotel proposal would be offset by the increase in the positive results of building it – if it is operated on terms favorable to Fort Smith. The reality is that a well planned business and community complex developed around a tightly integrated and professionally managed casino operation can provide positive benefits that outweigh the negative effects already present. Two examples of how this can happen are Davenport, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. Check it out.

OK - I’m hung up on that word, “can.” Again, the logic of words will yield to the logic of reality and what can happen in a situation like this and what actually does happen are rarely the same. I think building and hosting a casino/hotel in Fort Smith would be like milking a cobra – the snake must never be in control of the situation, the handler must know exactly what he’s doing, and you need antivenom in the Frigidaire - uh - I mean, the Whirlpool side-by-side.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not averse to danger. I love watching Steve Irwin wrangle a deadly snake. Man Versus Wild is must-see-TV in my house. And once upon a time I was a steely-eyed-fighter-pilot sitting on a 300 kiloton thermo-nuclear weapon staring down the bad guys (who then became the good guys and are now becoming the bad guys again). In fact, Danger is my middle name. But I digress...

It occurs to me that the story of Steve Irwin might have a moral within it from which Fort Smith should learn. Irwin did all sorts of crazy things that were incredibly risky. I'll never forget the first time I watched The Crocodile Hunter and saw this insane Aussie climb into a tree with an angry Black Mamba. Even thinking of it now gives me the willies! But as I watched him I realized that whenever Irwin caught a snake or wrestled a croc he was incredibly careful because he knew there was great "danger, danger, danger" in those situations. But in the end it was something Irwin didn't expect that killed him. And I suspect that the greatest risk of building and hosting a casino in Fort Smith lies not in what we expect - but in the unexpected.

Does the Westphal Group offer a genuine solution to the un-retouched picture of Fort Smith’s doubtful future?

And because what can happen is so rarely what actually does happen, can we milk the casino cobra without getting bit?

And what do we not expect - but better plan for - before we go swimming with the stingrays?

Glad you asked...

The Iceman Melteth

My family recently made a quick trip to Colorado and we were able to get to Breckenridge to see the 2007 International Ice Sculpture Competition.

Click on the title of this post to open the website with pictures of all the winners from 2006. To see a few other pics you can click on the link called Portmantableau Online Album listed on the right side of this page.

I am constantly in awe of what artists can do with raw material - including a 20-ton block of ice.

Restraint

Consider this...

We all know that the U.S. has engaged the Muslim world in many ways post 9/11. Some of those activities have been good, some bad, and some decidedly, profoundly, maddeningly stupid. But the most amazing thing about the U.S. response to 9/11 is what DID NOT happen. In the history of the world there has never been a nation who, so injured, has restrained itself so greatly as the United States since the 9/11 attacks. And that restraint is all the more amazing when you consider the staggering military power possessed by America. I will remind you, dear reader, that WW1 was triggered by the assassination of a single man.

What if the shoe bomb were on the other foot? How would the Islamic world respond if a group of radical American Christians hijacked four Middle East based airliners and flew them into the Dome of the Rock, the central Medina mosque, and the Kaaba at the peak moment of the Hajj so that the largest number of Muslims were killed by the event? What if substantive financial links were found between those hijackers and the government of the United States? How might the Muslim world respond to such a heinous attack?

I'll say it again in a different way - never in human history has one nation possessed greater power to retaliate against attack than the U.S. today. Never in human history has a nation had a more compelling reason to retaliate - even blindly and irrationally - than did the U.S. after 9/11. And even in the context of the United States' ongoing and messy military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, never in human history has a nation chosen to restrain itself so dramatically as has the U.S. post 9/11.

And perhaps the most ironic thing of all is that a large portion of the Islamic world perceives our restraint as weakness deserving of disrespect.

The Big Picture

Light speed
186,000 miles per second
674 million miles per hour

USA coast-to-coast
3000 miles
6 hours by jet
0.02 second at light speed

Earth to moon
239,000 miles
1.24 seconds at light speed

Sun to Pluto
3.6 billion miles
6.5 hours at light speed

Light year (ly)
5.884 trillion miles

Nearest star within our Milky Way Galaxy
Proxima Centauri
4 years at light speed

Number of stars in our galaxy
100 million

Diameter of our Milky Way Galaxy
90,000 years at light speed

Nearest galaxy to our own Milky Way
2,249,400 years at light speed

Number of galaxies detected by the Hubble Space Telescope
in a patch of sky the size of a grain of sand held at arm's lenth.
100 million

There's a reason they call it "space."

Comment on Lincoln on Leadership

All leaders should realize that they can't do everthing on their own. They simply must have people below them who will do what is necessary to insure success. Those subordinates who will take risks, act without waiting for direction, and ask for responsibility rather than reject it, should be treated as your most prized possessions. Such individuals are exceedingly rare and worth their weight in gold. And when you finally find one - as Lincoln found Grant - they tend to multiply. The "Grants" of the world will choose others in their own image, just as Lincoln's Grant chose such aggressive generals as Sheridan and Sherman rather than procrastinators like McClellan and Hooker. Corporate executives can possess great vision and be able to provide all the direction in the world, just as Lincoln did. But they can't succeed without a man like U.S. Grant to carry out the company's mission.

Lincoln on Leadership

Abraham Lincoln wrote...

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion - kind, unassuming persuasion - should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of vinegar. So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great high road to reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgement of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause really be a just one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgement, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart, and though your cause be naked truth itself you shall no more be able to reach him than to penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a blade of grass. Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interest.

The Stockdale Paradox

Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties

- AND AT THE SAME TIME -

Confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be.

Rules for Leadership

• Never say goodbye to a good man with a harsh word.
• Set the example before enforcing the rule.
• Search for the good in people and praise publically.
• Quietly confront incorrect behaviour and discipline privately.
• Praise 4 times more that you discipline.
• Never ridicule or belittle.
• Set well defined goals and objectives.
• Clearly communicate your expectations.
• Regularly review results.
• Hold people accountable.
• Ensure that consequences (both positive and negative)
  - Accurately reflect performance
  - Affect responsible individuals immediately and personally.
• Always associate hard work and sacrifice with a credible higher calling.
• Never waste time - yours or someone else's.
• Discern the difference between a matter of behavior and a matter of character.
  - Matters of behavior can be changed through human effort
  - Matters of character can only be changed by God

The D's

There may be seven deadly sins but there are ten D's...

Debt
Divorce
Disease
Drugs
Death
Depression
Drinking
Dice
Deviancy
Dalliance

Too Stupid to Quit

Teddy Roosevelt wrote...

"It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Alexander Hamilton wrote (at age 14 by the way)...

I'm no philosopher, you see, and may be justly said to build castles in the air. Yet we have seen such schemes successful when the projector is constant.

Calvin Coolidge wrote...

Press on! Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Winston Churchill wrote...

It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.

J.D. Williams wrote...

"I've always been persistent but that's because I've always been too stupid to quit."

Real Life

Alfred D. Souza wrote...

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be worked through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

J.D. Williams wrote...

"God uses the obstacles of life to drive us to Him."

The Brute Force of Reality

Louis Brandeis wrote...

The logic of words should yield to the logic of realities.

J.D. Williams paraphrased...

Perfect logic and a brilliant plan always yield to the brute force of reality.

Great Leaders vs. The Rest of US

It is extremely difficult for leaders to find a balance between expressing their personalities and effectively managing those of the people they aspire to lead or at least influence. Yet the ability to strike that balance - and to preserve one's authenticity in the process - is precisely what distinguishes great leaders from other executives. Authenticity is not the product of pure manipulation. It accurately reflects aspects of the leader's inner self, so it can't be an act. But great leaders seem to know which personality traits they should reveal to whom and when.

Harvard Business Review Dec05