COMMENTARY: Making Greenville’s – Greenville News

Terry Weaver 10:19 a.m. ET April 7, 2017

Terry Weaver is the founder and owner of Delta Resource Group, a business coaching and advisory practice. He is an active promoter of Technology Entrepreneurship, and has served on Technology advisory boards of Kansas State University, Furman University, University of South Carolina Upstate, Greenville County Schools and the United Way of Greenville County. He is a Charter member of the InnoVision Advisory Board. Terry is an Electrical Engineering graduate of Kansas State University, a Professional Engineer, and a member of the Engineering Hall of Fame at Kansas State University.(Photo: Tom Weaver)

Another 20-Year Overnight Success Story

I was ecstatic to see Greenville listed as a "Next in Tech?" player in a USA Today article on "Tech Job Migration". Who in the 1990s would have imagined the Textile Capital of the World transforming itself into a broadly based technology center?

Lots of people, actually.In the words of Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart, "Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear, and no concept of the odds against them.They make the impossible happen."

Capital Insights.InnoVision Awards.Innoventure. GSA Technology Council (GSATC) and Tech After 5. Upstate Carolina Angel Network (UCAN). NEXT. Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CUICAR). Greenville Tech's Center for Manufacturing Innovation.The Iron Yard.My apologies to those I've missed. Each of these organizations was the vision of one or more Greenville leaders, intent on making the impossible happen.

It's that poorly developed sense of fear of Greenville's technology leaders and the advocacy groups they spawned that brought us to this crossroads.And the impossible is within reach.

How do we move from the potential of "Next in Tech?" (with a question mark) to a nationally recognized technology hub?

Maintain and improve quality of life and public image:We must not only attract, but also retain the best and brightest technology talent and entrepreneurs. These people can live and work anywhere.They are drawn by arts and entertainment, a low cost of living, work-life balance and branding such as, "Yeah, that Greenville". ..

They are repelled by intolerance and exclusion of any type.We must stand for tolerance and fight prejudice in our laws, companies and churches. North Carolina has recently learned (we can hope) the high cost of intolerance.

Upgrade and expand the pool of technology talent:We must address the elephant in the room. Our university and technical college admissions officers readily identify one of their top challenges as incoming students who are underprepared for the demands of higher education, particularly in the basics,reading, math and science.It's not that our K-12 education system hasn't been working at this problem;it has,and progress has been made.We need to cut in the afterburners and get a lot better a lot faster at preparing more of our high school graduates for the rigors of higher education.

Tech career awareness:Many students make unconscious career-limiting choices before or during middle school.Convinced that science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses are "hard,"they de-select themselves from an educational track that would make them part of Greenville's technology future.We must redouble our efforts to make both students and parents aware of the upward mobility of technology-based careers, and promote STEM education in our grade schools, middle schools and high schools.

Support and promote non-University career paths:Greenville Tech's Center for Manufacturing Innovation is a great start.We need to expand our capacity and attract more students into skill-based technology jobs that may or may not require a college degree.High-tech manufacturing is part of our technology base, and has thousands of currently open jobs for which companiesdon't see enough adequately prepared applicants.The Iron Yard recognized this vacuum and has been hugely successful with a for-profit educational offering to ready students for high-demand and high-paying software development jobs.

Grow investable companies:Oddly, I rarely hear of a tech company limited by lack of capital.Rather, I hear of investors actively seeking high-growth "investable" technology companies, a need Capital Insights set out to solve 25 years ago and remains unsatisfied.

We as leaders of Greenville's future need to continue to ignore fear and make the impossible happen,the multi-decade transition from a low-wage labor-based branch manufacturing economy to a nationally-recognized knowledge economy.Failure is not an option.

Terry Weaver is the founder and owner of Delta Resource Group, a business coaching and advisory practice. He is an active promoter of Technology Entrepreneurship, and has served on the technology advisory boards of Kansas State University, Furman University, University of South Carolina Upstate, Greenville County Schools and the United Way of Greenville County. He is a charter member of the InnoVision Advisory Board. An electrical engineering graduate of Kansas State University, he is a member of his alma mater's Engineering Hall of Fame.

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COMMENTARY: Making Greenville's - Greenville News