What is the value of a label? Could Federal Way benefit from a makeover to gain positive name recognition and become the brand everyone wants?
A local business executive, Garry Welch, responded to my recent Mirror article on five issues for the mayor with an email and the following comment stood out:
“Our city [Federal Way] will continue on its current trajectory until we make a concerted effort to change our image, or, as a marketing person would say, change our brand. For example, I have read and heard several times in the past few years, statements made or written by individuals in Federal Way that our city is a blue-collar town.”
Interesting observation. If you were raised in a rust belt city like me, you might accept being called blue-collar with a sense of pride and at first glance you would say this is not a blue-collar city. But with a little time you begin seeing that it has strong elements of blue-collar attitude, which tends toward being change adverse, hard working at the employee level and having unsophisticated tastes.
Many of the investors this city needs to attract to change its trajectory say no thank you when they hear that label. Some blue-collar cities have become high-tech, health care and education focused like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but retain the old image. However, when the employee pool of any city is undereducated and low tech it may have great workers for some jobs, but they may not have the skills or vision to help an emerging company grow.
So is Federal Way seeking to remain blue-collar in attitude or beginning to recognize that its future is better served as a city with white-collar aspirations? Can it become a city with an entrepreneurial spirit that values education and develop a job base that is imagination driven?
While the Mayor may be thinking about his five critical issues for this city, the comment from Mr. Welch provides a theme for the discussion. The questions to be answered as part of this discussion deal with who is attracted to Federal Way and why? Are the developments that Federal Way is currently attracting good for the city in the long term or should the city re-define its attractability?
Welch also provided some thoughts on attracting next generation companies:
“Attracting new business, both large and small, to our city has been problematic. My own experiences point to leadership factors as the major impediment. I envision companies moving their headquarters and operations here as being comprised of people who are high performers, and they will probably be newer and smaller companies.
“High performers want to be around others who will challenge and mentor them, are better than, not equal, to them, they can be comfortable interacting with, while providing an opportunity for personal growth.
They intuitively know the best fit when they see it and that the synergies within the selected environment will allow their company to retain and attract the talent necessary for success in a globally competitive environment.”
It really is about having a sense of self and valuing what is possible. We can resist change and work to maintain unsophisticated tastes or we can invest in the potential of Federal Way as a city and challenge ourselves to find a purpose beyond being a commuter city designed to serve and benefit others.
We would be wise to remember the words of San Francisco journalist, Herb Caen and use them as a guide in positioning Federal Way for success: “A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams.”
Federal Way resident Keith Livingston: keithlivingstondesign@gmail.com.
