2% or 20%?

A friend related to me a conversation he had a few years back with a yellow pages salesman. The salesman was explaining to him the difference, in his opinion, between Northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith.

The gist of the conversation was this. If you ask a business owner in Fort Smith what he expects his company’s sales growth to be the following year he will say 2%. And that’s what his next year’s sales growth will be, 2%.

If you ask a business owner in Northwest Arkansas what he expects his company’s sales growth will be the following year he will say 20%. And that’s what his next year’s sales growth will be, 20%.

With the imminent closing of the Whirlpool plant, I’ve been doing my own informal and unscientific poll the past week or two asking this question, “Do you believe Fort Smith will become the next Pine Bluff?” (Let’s pause a moment and let me talk to those who might live in Pine Bluff or consider Pine Bluff their home town. I’m sure I would love Pine Bluff if I lived there and have no intent to disrespect the town or its people, but you do have a reputation of only being a bedroom community of Little Rock. My discussion today is about how Fort Smith might avoid the same fate or reputation in relation to Northwest Arkansas.)

Back to my informal poll.

A slight majority of the responses were hopeful, replying “I don’t think so.” But sometimes the answers seemed tentative, more of a “I sure hope not,” answer. But there are those that would reply, “Probably,” or “There’s a good chance.”

So there is no doubt where I stand, I am bred and born in Fort Smith and love this town. But I have to ask, why are there are so many people in Fort Smith with a dismal view of our city, especially when compared to Northwest Arkansas.

My son and many friends couldn’t wait to move to Northwest Arkansas or other places. I find many of my old acquaintances from high school living in other states snub Fort Smith at times on Facebook. Granted, Northwest Arkansas has Wal-Mart and the economy it created. Hey, I love Wal-Mart and how they have helped this state and Northwest Arkansas. And I wish continued prosperity for Northwest Arkansas. But business growth depends on psychology and expectations. If we don’t expect much will happen in Fort Smith, it won’t.

For Fort Smith to be a “happening and prosperous” place, Fort Smith people must begin with the belief that it is a place worthy of prosperity. Maybe we all need to become Scientologists and have a collective audit to remove the engrams from the reactive mind to achieve a collective state of clear. Probably wouldn’t work. The Baptists would oppose.

The closing of Whirlpool isn’t the end of Fort Smith. Whirlpool was a great citizen and provided many jobs and benefits to the Fort Smith Region. Let’s say thank you to Whirlpool and move on.

I don’t have the answer to what needs to happen to make Fort Smith a growing and prosperous community. But I do know it must start with great expectations. I’m gonna believe. Why don’t you.