Birmingham Business Alliance leader Dalton Smith said today the group hopes to have its first strategic plan complete by the end of this year -- a plan that focuses on ways to create jobs in the region over the next five years.
Dalton Smith, head of the Birmingham Business Alliance, says more cooperation is needed among area leaders.
Smith, speaking to the Birmingham Venture Club, said the ultimate goal is to have a 20-year plan that deals in five-year increments. But the initial plan is critical, he said, because "we want to make sure we take the time to get it right."
He recounted the story of his then 4-year-old daughter coming to his bedside at 4:30 one morning and asking her mother for breakfast. After her mother sleepily tried to explain to her that it was still sleeping time and not quite breakfast time, the daughter considered the suggestion before responding, "Who needs more sleep? What we need is biscuits!"
The story has a point. Smith said the Birmingham area has fallen asleep in economic development while other competing cities like Austin, Nashville and Charlotte have moved ahead. He said it's time for the Birmingham area to stop sleeping and get to the business of making biscuits.
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