Chair's Column
Now is the time for vision

By Dave Fleck
2008-09 Chair of the Board

Dave Fleck 2008-09 Chair of the Board

With the ongoing nationwide mortgage crisis, and other  economic concerns dominating news headlines, it's easy to be discouraged about the state of business. It seems easier to just worry about the status quo than to stretch our thinking process and look at our community's big picture. As a community, and as a Chamber of Commerce, we need to be forward-thinking for the future as well as the present.

Each year the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce holds a planning session in late August to bring key Chamber volunteers and community leaders together for a discussion about the community's future. This year, we gave additional focus beyond the 2008-09 Chamber year.

In our discussions in August, we reviewed some of our community's greatest strengths and success stories. One of the most obvious successes is the Forward Sioux Falls program, which started in 1987 as a joint partnership between the Chamber and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. FSF enabled our community to think big. In the last 25 years we have seen Sioux Falls grow from a small city on the prairie to one of the Midwest's fastest-growing communities. Sioux Falls continuously receives accolades as a great place to live, work and raise a family.

More recently, the Sioux Falls City Council voted for additional funding sources for the construction of arterial streets and other infrastructure projects. Instead of focusing on negativity, the council had a vision of where Sioux Falls could be and voted for our future.
As a community, now is the time for us to be proactive. Now is the time for opportunity. Now is the time for vision.

This is not the first time our nation has faced tough economic times. Earlier leaders' vision for what Sioux Falls could be and sticking to that vision despite challenges enabled our community to grow and succeed over several generations. We need to be willing to risk short-term controversy for long-term benefits. We need to engage emerging leaders in community dialogue. We need to involve the next generation of leaders to help build on our community's traditions — and start new traditions.