Landscape and topography have long
driven the businesses that thrive in West
Virginia. The state’s past is rooted in the
precious resources that grow in its mountains and under its soil. However, according to Brad Smith, a native West Virginian
and president and CEO of Intuit, Inc., the
Mountain State’s future success now lies
in the high technology sector.
Growing up in Kenova, WV, Smith
learned about the endurance of Mountaineers and the power of community at
a young age. While he has since lived in
10 different states, he has remained highly
involved in his home state, watching as it
struggles through a variety of difficult circumstances. A professional who has built
his career in technology, Smith believes
the next chapter of opportunity for West
Virginia lies in the cloud.
“I believe the first steps to growing West
Virginia’s high technology economy are recognizing the need to change and embracing
the opportunity that lies ahead,” says Smith.
“As Robert Quillen once stated, ‘Progress
involves risk. You can’t steal second base
and keep one foot on first base.’”
retrain their work force, focusing on education and technology. It did not happen
overnight, but they have gone from being
one of the poorest economies to being one
of Europe’s tech hubs. We can do the same
thing here through public-private partnerships that focus on connecting individuals
and small businesses so they can take full
advantage of the cloud and the power of
mobile devices.”
With a ready work force and sustainable connectivity in place, Smith says the
last step would be to support entrepreneurship, as entrepreneurs are the backbone of
the world economy. In the United States’
private sector, 60 percent of all employees
work for a small business, and 80 percent
of new jobs are created by small businesses.
“It matters less how many Fortune 100
companies have offices or manufacturing
plants in your state,” says Smith. “What
is more important in terms of long-term
job growth is how strong of an entrepreneurial environment and small business
community you’ve created. With the talent
we have in West Virginia, we’re the only
ones who can put a limit on ourselves.”
Growing Critical Areas
Overcoming Obstacles
According to Smith, West Virginia must
invest in three critical areas to embrace a
high technology economy: education, infrastructure and entrepreneurship.
“We live in a global economy,” he
says. “We’re connected by the cloud with
computers in the palms of our hands,
powered by this concept of big data. To
thrive and survive in this world, we need
to teach our children the importance of
STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Just as we learned to
write in cursive, our kids will need to learn
how to build apps and write code. We’ll
also need to provide ongoing training and
tools to educate and help small business
owners succeed. Small businesses need to
be prepared to compete in a global and
digital marketing environment.”
In terms of infrastructure, Smith refers to
the Mountain State’s lack of connectivity.
He believes that in order to level the playing
field in the global market, West Virginia
must improve its technology infrastructure
with full broadband access and coverage.
For inspiration, Smith recommends looking
to Ireland as a model for creating change.
“Ireland is a country with many similarities to West Virginia,” he says. “They
undertook a long-term strategic plan to
While making these changes would
require time and money—two things that
are never easy to come by—Smith sees
an obstinate mindset as West Virginia’s
biggest obstacle.
“There is a part of us that does not
want to change because we are worried
we might somehow change the character
of the state and lose what it is that makes
us so unique and special,” he says. “We
need to move past this. We can hold on to
our values and embrace change. In fact, it
is exactly these values, such as hard work
and perseverance, that are going to be
vital in helping make us successful. We
can write the next chapter of greatness for
West Virginia without losing who we are
or what makes us special.”
By focusing less on the industries of the
past and more on the people who made
these industries thrive, the Mountain State
can blaze a new trail and encourage the
same veracity and work ethic that made
coal such a successful business.
“The same courage and perseverance it
took to tame these mountains will serve us
well as we start small businesses and learn
new skills,” says Smith. “Our character is
tailor-made for these challenges. We don’t
have to change our character to embrace
the technology economy—we need to rely
on the character of our people. This is a
state that has a strong culture of integrity, humility and teamwork. Those values
shaped me, and I believe these values make
us unique as a state. If we can combine
these core values with the proper education and training, I think we can create a
formidable and attractive work force that
can invent great businesses and attract great
companies for West Virginia.”
While overcoming an outdated approach
is a significant obstacle, West Virginia must
also face the reality that technology companies need to relocate to the Mountain
State to change the tides. However, Smith
believes that by educating the
work force, actively demon- ExEdge
strating support for entrepreIntuit, a small
neurship and investing in in- business, personal
frastructure, the state has the finance and tax
power to attract businesses software company,
from across the country and owns the
popular financial
even the wor ld.
management
“We can make West Vir- products
ginia very attractive,” he says. QuickBooks,
“It’s about giving our youth TurboTax and Mint.
the opportunity to pursue their Source:
dreams in this beautiful state www.intuit.com
by creating an environment
that supports entrepreneurs in building their
own businesses. If we support entrepreneurs and give them the tools and training
they need, that will create a virtuous cycle,
building more small businesses that employ
skilled workers, driving greater innovation
and economic activity and, ultimately, creating an environment that will attract outside talent, investors and companies who
will seek to invest in the state.”
Embracing Change
Many West Virginians can still remember
times when coal, manufacturing and natural
gas created an economic and employment
boom. While these industries played a
vital role in the state’s past and will play a
continuing role in its future, the question
remains: how big of a role? Smith offers
a common business scenario to help put
the answer in perspective.
“In business, we ask ourselves a question to help us focus on building a company that is built to last: what decisions did
our predecessors make years ago that we
wish we could go back in time and change
that would have left us in a better situation today?” he says. “Of course, executives love this question because we have
www.wvexecutive.com
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