Two Cities.

Two Cities.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The cities of Detroit and San Francisco are a tale of two cities that continue to tell a powerful story. These two cities have shaped the American economic landscape - and have powered our national economic engine - more than any other cities in our 240-year history. Arguably, these two cities have changed the world more during our short 12,000 years of human history than all the others, including Ancient Egypt, China or Rome, or even the Greek city- states of Athens or Sparta. So far, anyway. Detroit became the center of global innovation and manufacturing prowess when Henry Ford revolutionized a new technology called the “horseless carriage”, also known as the automobile. His first Model T started rolling off an impressive, high-tech assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan on October 1, 1908. Around the same time, more than 2,400 miles away on 913 Emerson Street in sleepy Palo Alto, California, Dr. Lee De Forest was about to begin his famous experiments with his oscillating vacuum tube. This idea sparked an electronics technology revolution. Emerson Street was a simple, quiet street that would become the birthplace of the global electronics industry, and within decades the rise of what the world now refers to as Silicon Valley. More than 40,000 high-tech companies have been incubated in this “valley” in the last 50 years, and we are only in the early stages of this new American Economic Renaissance. The possibilities seem endless, and are probably only limited by our imaginations and ability to collaborate. How can we create more sparks and new economic epicenters like Detroit in 1908 and San Francisco in 2008? How can it fulfill the promise of the American Dream for our children and grandchildren? What if the next Detroit or San Francisco is not in America? 

On April 14, 1912 the unsinkable Titanic hit an iceberg on a cold, dark night on the Atlantic Ocean and quickly sank. Captain Edward Smith had Jack Phillips, the wireless operator on the Titanic that night, feverishly send telegraph messages as the ship was sinking in the hope that someone would receive it and come to their immediate rescue. No one close enough did. Almost 700 people survived; over 1,500 souls were lost. The national uproar over the tragedy and investigations led Congress to soon pass a law requiring all ships to carry radios. Radio was a new, emerging technology, and it was the digital technology of its day with the potential to change the world. And it did. The Federal Telegraph Company had started on 913 Emerson Street in Palo Alto, so it made sense that the nearby port city of San Francisco would become a leader in radio technology for ships. This early spark in San Francisco developed into a digital revolution that has fundamentally changed and reshaped the world. While Detroit was busy making automobiles, San Francisco was busy become a global powerhouse in the coming Digital Revolution.    

In the best-selling book, The Geography of Genius (2016), author Eric Weiner highlights the world’s more creative places over time: Athens, Florence, Hangzhou, Edinburgh, Calcutta, Vienna, and then Silicon Valley. Of course Silicon Valley is not a city, but a catch-phrase for the area stretching up the Northern California peninsula from San Jose to San Francisco, including smaller towns such as Mountain View, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, Cupertino, San Mateo, and others. Silicon chips were being used in the budding semiconductor industry taking hold in the area. Although the origin of the term Silicon Valley is in dispute, reporter Don Hoefler wrote an article on January 11, 1971 for the Electronic News, a trade publication in California. He titled his article, “Silicon Valley, USA.” The phrase had a lot of stickiness at the time, and is now the common description used to identify this unique global epicenter of technology development.   

A tale of two cities. I walked through downtown Detroit last weekend. It was a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon and the Motor City was relatively quiet. The Detroit Tigers were out of town. Hockeytown, USA was a ghost town. I walked along the impressive waterfront and bought a hot dog out in front of General Motor’s beautiful and massive headquarters. Some young guys were throwing a football around in the adjacent park and blasting Journey's song "Don't Stop Believing" off their iPhone and small speaker with a big sound. This is one of my favorite songs. It inspires. The thought crossed my mind: What if Detroit, the most innovative and impressive industrial center of the world more than 100 years ago, would have had the innovative and future-looking talent, energy, ideas, and good fortune to become the “Silicon Valley” of the world instead of Northern California? What will it take for the emerging dynamic centers of Denver, Colorado, or Austin, Texas, or Boston, Massachusetts - or Tel Aviv, Israel, or Sydney, Australia, or Toronto, Canada- to become the next Detroit or San Francisco? Diversity, an abundance of talent, extraordinary leadership and teamwork, political freedom, a vibrant free enterprise ecosystem, hungry and determined immigrants, and excellent universities seem to be common threads. Optimism and entrepreneurial energy are critical. And maybe an ounce of good fortune and timing, too.  

 

Let's Create More Sparks: Robert is a curious Irish-Canadian and well-traveled American who naturally enjoys story telling that includes lots of interesting facts and figures. Stats and data points help tell powerful stories. Interesting quotes and good books bring vivid colors and memorable shapes to a story. Good stories inspire the human spirit. Ideally you found an idea or two in this LinkedIn article that you can now use as a fantastic conversation starter with friends or colleagues over a good cup of coffee on a leisurely Saturday afternoon.

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