This past Friday was the inaugural Small Business Summit and Expo, Presented by Wells Fargo, a collaborative effort between the MN Black, MN Hmong, and St. Paul Area Chambers.
What a powerful event it turned out to be! The event sold out with close to 300 people and 50 tabled vendors. We also invited a group of emerging entrepreneurs, thanks to Ramsey County’s sponsorship of this priority. I wandered through the vendor area, saw an amazing array of businesses (both large and small!), the volume high as the hall was full of people networking. Our lunch panelists were entrepreneurs who shared their own business stories, and the animated conversation was moderated by Tracey Williams-Dillard from the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - an entrepreneur in her own right. People didn’t want the panel to end! My message to everyone in the room, mixed up all together as we were: what we are doing together is extraordinary. Historic, even. Together we are building a stronger tomorrow. Today’s large businesses all started humbly, with an idea shared between just a few people. We are charged to do what we can to promote the innovation and entrepreneurial energy in that room and in this region. Thank you to everyone who suggested this event, took a chance on participating, and were moved enough to tell me how much the day meant. See you in the trenches, B
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This past week we co-hosted a compelling event with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce on Environmental Permitting recommendations. The Minnesota Chamber Foundation has published research on this, and we invited Jennifer Byers, Executive Director of the Foundation, to speak. Compelling and convicting at the same time.
The study compares Minnesota’s permitting processes to those of peer states, outlines differences in outcomes, and provides recommendations for improvement (without lowering our state’s environmental standards!) I strongly recommend you read it yourself, particularly as there is legislation being considered this session that will impact this. If you remember, a favorite expression of former Governor Dayton’s: “permitting at the speed of commerce.” Once you read the report, you’ll find that is not happening in Minnesota. You can find “Streamlining Minnesota’s Environmental Permitting Process,” here. Greetings! What glorious weather we’re having! This week I’m looking at economic trends ahead for the year, what I’m hearing and reading. And last week, of course, the March national jobs report was released. Overall, the news is modestly positive. The U.S. economy continues to show signs of strength and resilience with stable GDP growth and mild inflation despite ongoing higher interest rates. March marked the 39th straight month of job growth and a much larger gain than forecasted. That said, economic growth – though positive – will remain sluggish until the Fed cuts interest rates. Consumer confidence continues to improve, edging closer to pre-pandemic levels. Prices continue to rise, driven largely by upward pressures on wages. Minneapolis Federal Reserve Chair Neel Kashkari addressed much of this at a town hall. Listen in!
As I indicated above, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Chair Neel Kashkari spoke at a town hall at the University of Montana earlier this month. Relative to the latter half of 2023, inflation fell much quicker and the labor market remained stronger than the Fed had expected. Both good things. His explanation? Most of the progress in inflation is due to the supply challenges unwinding. People back to work, supply chains improving, service economy reopened, goods economy remaining stable. Commodity prices relatively normalized. Inflation is running at about 3% right now; the Fed’s target rate is 2%. This is important because the Fed is less inclined to lower interest rates when inflation remains above target. The Fed’s next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is in June. Economists at Morningstar, Reuters, and others are anticipating a modest reduction in the federal reserve rates at that meeting. Others, as reflected in CNBC’s Fed Survey, anticipate that a reduction is less likely given the ongoing growth of the economy. So we’ll have to pay attention to June’s outcomes. As it relates to employment: the national March jobs report recently was released: employers added 303K jobs in March, National unemployment rates fell to 3.8% (from 3.9% in Feb). In many states across the country, unemployment levels have spiked… not so in MN. Minnesota’s current unemployment rate is 2.7% (latest numbers from Feb 2024), lower than the long-term nerm average of 4.73%. How does the Fed balance the unevenness as they consider a national interest rate? Kashkari’s response: “most businesses that I talk to around our region report that the labor market is not red hot like it was 1-2 years ago. But it’s still a tight labor market, still having to compete to find employees.” Still seeing upward pressure on wages. As it relates to prices: “stable” price growth, according to the Fed’s preferences, is 2% annual growth. In my talking with employers prices are rising faster than that target rate. Driven largely by upward pressure on wages. Commodity prices have been impacted as well, largely by independent influences such as the invasion of Ukraine and the Israel/Palestine conflict. The big question, then: will interest rates be lowered in June? Morningstar’s latest Economic Outlook details that falling inflation will make this pivot possible in early 2024. Slowing GDB growth (and a slight rise in unemployment, should that happen) in 2024 will add a further reason for the Fed to cut. In his latest testimony to the Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated policy easing would likely be "appropriate" at some point this year. But still sticky inflation and a very resilient labor market could prevent an early rate cut. At this same town hall, Chair Kashkari expressed an understanding of the economy that makes sense to me too: as we anticipate the economic direction, we act in such a way to bring that expectation to reality. Kashkari said, “People’s expectations for the future become self-fulfilling. If all of us believe that inflation is going to be 2%, then we behave in a way that helps lead to inflation being 2%.” The contrary is true as well, and I’ve heard some employers in particular markets (like real estate) use the phrase, “survive till 2025.” As consumer confidence remains high, I remain hopeful for an interest rate reduction yet this year. See you in the trenches, B This month is our inaugural Small Business Summit and Expo on April 26. I am especially excited about this event, because it’s being delivered through a partnership of three chambers: the St. Paul Area Chamber, the Minnesota Black Chamber, and the Minnesota Hmong Chambers of Commerce. Other organizations are joining us as well, including the Oakdale Area Chamber and the Grand Avenue Business Association. We want maximum exposure to reach as many small business leaders as possible. The event itself will be important due to its delivery of resources; and we hope it will lead to more shared programming in the future!
The event model is in direct response to needs voiced by the entrepreneur and small business community. This sector is looking for resources, opportunities, and introductions. And they want to be connected to one another. This Summit and Expo is designed to provide both. We will have a full day of a business expo, as well as several tracks of training for small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs alike, including a track on how to do business with government. What has surprised me has been the strong interest from large businesses, as well. As companies continue to be ever more intentional about working with small businesses, particularly BIPOC-owned businesses, this event promises to be even more than we'd hoped in terms of bringing both together. Get a table for the expo, or simply attend the programming and check it out for yourself. Expo tables are filling fast, so don’t wait! And what is this event ushering in? A season of ever stronger partnerships. My perspective continues to evolve, as I recognize the increasing importance of working together with other organizations to best serve the employer community. There are so many chambers in this region, and each has a unique voice that deserves to be amplified. Where it makes sense to share resources and programming, I am very interested in doing so! This Summit and Expo is a great example of that. See you in the trenches, B Last week I had the great pleasure of attending one of my very favorite events: the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” Awards. So many amazing, talented people, and the room was filled with friends and colleagues who were amazingly enthusiastic in their celebrations! I was with the Ramsey County group celebrating Kari Collins, the county’s Community and Economic Development Director. Take a look at the list. and pause for a moment to share your own congratulations with at least one honoree. I know they’ll appreciate it. As I think about the future before us, people like these 40 will be ushering it in. We would do well to support their development!
Let’s get back to Bud and Tom! This week I’m catching up on Tom and all he’s learning, as I continue reading Leadership and Self-Deception. It’s been since Feb 20 that we last talked about Tom and all he’s learning from his boss, Bud. Bud had given Tom a challenge to think about the people he works with, to determine whether he is in or out of the box toward them. Ultimately, as it relates to being “in the box” or “out of the box” in my engagement with another person, I have two questions: “Who?” and “What?” The first question is WHO am I focusing on?
The second question is WHAT am I focusing on?
A lighthearted example of how these two questions can manifest happened in advance of our Annual Meeting this year. Over the course of a year I spend a lot of time listening to members and reflecting on themes I hear as well as determining priorities for navigating the future ahead of us. As our Annual Meeting approached, I met regularly with a small group of my senior team leaders on logistics for the event. At this particular meeting, one of our last, we were reviewing my proposed comments. I liked my comments. I thought they were terrific. No edits needed, thank you very much. What did my team think? Simply put, it was too long. Unnecessarily so. But they weren’t quite sure how I’d respond to constructive feedback – because I was feeling protective. Well. In that moment I had two choices: I could focus on my own “rightness,” my own sense of things. Which is what I wanted to do. Because, as I’ve said, I liked my words. OR I could focus on results. In order to focus on results, I had to listen to my team’s input. And they had to trust that there wouldn’t be repercussions for speaking their truth to me. I can tell you that their feedback was exactly right. Instead of one person’s idea of the message, we wound up with the combined input of 6 people. And we were better for it. I had to release my need to be right in order to be open to what I ultimately want – better results. Was a very powerful exercise of trust and outcomes. I submit to you that I my dilemma is not uncommon. Every organization struggles with this to one degree or another. And we don’t need to wait for other people to change for us to do this deep work for ourselves. See you in the trenches, B |
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