HIGHLAND, UT | 21 April 2008 | Productivity and prosperity can often come in the most obscure and unexpected places. Many people have talents and strengths that lie hidden from themselves but are apparent to others. Many call these strengths and talents unique abilities. Everyone has at least one unique ability, and the question is how to find a way to capitalize on that unique ability in creating value in the world. Megan Cox of the Wall Street Journal documents one such use of unique abilities and passions that revived an industry and saved a Midwest town from the brinks of ghost town status.

Key Points

• Competition and innovation can bring some players in the market to their knees and threaten extinction. This even happens to entire communities when one are provides greater perceived value than another. This was the case with the shopping mall in the 1970s and 1980s America. Shopping was brought to one specific point, often under the shelter of indoor shopping. The result was that many downtown streets found businesses relocating or going out of business. Paducah, KY was one such place as reported by Ms. Cox.
• Voids often create opportunities for others to create value, such as the Schroeders and their American Quilters Society. Cox also reports that the Schroeders’ efforts revived a declining downtown and redubbed the city “Quilt City USA.” Since 1985, Paducah has been host to the AQS Quilt Show bringing in tens of thousands of visitors and generating large profits.
• Many towns and cities throughout the USA and other countries are in decline. Entrepreneurial leaders in these areas will explore their own strengths and consider how to use their Human Life Value to innovate where opportunity presents itself. Others in these towns, resigning to brain-off tactics, will simply see a dying town and run away from opportunity.

Discussion

The idea of quilting may appear to some as trivial, merely a pastime. To others it may be tedious and time-consuming. Yet, to others it may mean big business. The Schroeders and others in Paducah, Kentucky have found a way to use their hobbies and interests (their Human Life Value) to create value for millions of people throughout the world. This has brought life to a dying town.

Action Items

1. Explore your own unique abilities, hobbies and passions. Consider ways you could become productive with them.
2. When you see an empty business building, get into the habit of asking, How could I use that space to create value in the world? Even if you don’t act on it immediately, it will start increase your HLV by activating your mind to look for solutions.
3. If you already have some ideas, take steps to act on them. What could you do today to move closer to your achieving them?

MRFC Principles:  6 (5, 6, 7, 10)

Resources

Meg Cox, “Stitching Up the Future,” The Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2008

American Quilters Society, Paducah, KY