How to be cool….when coolness matters….

WEDN Leadership Conference casey steinbacher

founder

Here’s the storyline…… How Casey discovered COOL

Coolness in economic development

Story of Durham

The Attitude of Coolness

Embracing coolness…how Casey did it and you can too!

What is economic development….

Creating economic prosperity…

Jobs…investment

Creating vibrant communities….

People….places

How we do that….has changed dramatically……..

Corporate decisions….Talent

Sense of Place…

Community Vibe…

Diversity and Authenticity…

The Story of Durham, North Carolina

Durham County…285,000 people

Durham City….245,000 people

80% of the Research Triangle Park

Duke Univeristy, North Carolina Central University

Black Wall Street

Tobacco and Textile

The Story of Durham, North Carolina…. 1980-1993

Decline of Tobacco

Decline of Textiles

Regional Growth

Decline of Downtown

It all began with the decision to

build the Durham Bulls a new ball park downtown…

BUT…. It’s the only minor league

ballpark in the world with an onsite brewery….player

uniforms featuring Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Lego’s, Mario Brothers, and emoji characters…

A 1.3M sq ft renovated tobacco warehouse with offices that feature stackable glass cube meeting rooms, stadium seating conference rooms, happy hour bar shops down the hallways, hammock parks, fire pit eating areas, life size chess

sets, and a basketball /dodge ball court.

American Tobacco Campus Downtown Durham, NC

Where Lion King, Neil DeGrasee Tyson, Aretha Franklin, Whale Watching Tour 2016, Blood Red Orange and John Legend all sell out!

Pollstar rated top 5 nationally, top 10 world wide in ticket sales

$1M or better to the bottom line of the City of Durham every year since it opened

Latest season:

338,998 guests

224 events

112 sell out performances

15,167 season ticket holders

250 start up companies….3 locations in Durham…1500 employees….Google

Entrepreneurial HUB…won every Google Pitch Contest…average $40M in venture funding…

7 company exists for $1.5B

Features a sliding board from the first floor to the basement, razor scooters, a rapper in residence, and smoffices….UNDERGROUND

DowntownDurham: Then and Now 1993-2015

3,800 to 16,500 employees

180 t0 500 downtown businesses

112 to 1,700 residential units

187 to 742 hotel rooms

160 to 2,500 residents living in downtown

Median age from 55 to 36 years old

Median salary from $30,000 to $58,000 annually

1.1M visitors to 3M annual visitors

1M SF of office at 70% occupied to 3M SF at 94% occupied

$1.7B in investment since 2000

20% of the investment and job growth of the entire county in an area that represents 0.05% of the county SM… .751 square miles! And competes with a 7000 acre RTP…

The attitude of coolness…

authentic

diverse

vibe/energy/feeling

purposeful

collision based innovation

Why Coolness Matters?

Because it matters to the Millennials who

are the largest talent pool in the current US

Labor market…

What matters to millennials…

First Global generation

Learn by trying/failure part of learning

Work must be purposeful

Live, work, learn, play are co-mingled

The place is as important as the work

Will only engage if impactful

Career is less about the job experience and more about the life experience

How Casey Got Cool….

Hired a DCAS

Got over my fear of failure

Embraced LWLP

Leveraged the early wins….

Learned to drink beer

The attitude of coolness…wasn’t a choice for some of

us….

authentic

diverse

vibe/energy/feeling

purposeful

collision based innovation

Coolness is an attitude….It’s not about what you

do…it’s not about how old you are…it’s all about how you think and learn and

feel…

Embracing Coolness….

Knit hats….

Ear buds

Skinny jeans

cellphone addiction

Beer and Pizza…

“True wisdom only comes when you are at an age in which you have more wrinkles than

orgasm’s!” My favorite slutty romance novel