The most spirited debate at Ingram's recent economic development forum cen- tered on the question of what is the best, or at least the most viable, positioning strategy for the greater Kansas City area.

In other words, if Kansas City had to present its distinctive virtue on a billboard that would be seen by the world's corporations, what would that six-word message be. Several of those present at the forum suggested elements of what it might include, but no one defined its essence. Please allow us to pull those suggestions together into one overarching theme.

Bob Marcusse of the Kansas City Area Development Council made the important point that "we can do a lot of things simultaneously." This much is true, and Kansas City has made a virtue of its diverse economy--"as diverse as there is in the country," according to Joe Driskill. The challenge here is to incorporate that diversity into a billboard size message. It can be done. Another subtle virtue is space. The Kansas City area has no natural barriers inhibiting its growth. This has the effect of keeping property affordable and lowering the cost of entry for new businesses, big or small. The area's exceptional highway infrastructure and its centrality make distribution of a given product, locally or nationally, relatively efficient as well. Kansas City's geography also helps keep power and water plentiful and relatively cheap. And its proximity to rural America has given the area a well-deserved reputation for its work ethic.

At the Ingram's forum, there was also, of course, much talk about the state line. The surprising consensus among the group was that the state line made Kansas City more, not less, competitive in the national ED marketplace. Brian Sterner of Overland Park went so far as to call it a "phenomenal asset." Said Tom Riederer of Independence, "The competition gets us all fired up."

Their point was well made. Many states--those on the west coast particularly--go through swings in their receptivity towards growth and development based on the flow of the local economy and the politics of the party in power. A company may move to, say, California, under one set of expectations only to find those expectations undermined by an upward swing in the economy, a shift in the state house, and/or an ascendant environmental movement.

Once a company has set up shop in, say, San Francisco, it cannot easily uproot its employees and its infrastructure if the state economic development climate grows still and becomes in- tolerable. If, however, Oakland were in another state, movement across the bay would be simple enough. The threat of that movement would forever keep the San Francisco side attentive. This much only makes sense.

Crossing the state line from Missouri to Kansas is considerably easier than crossing the Bay Bridge. Here, that crossing places one not in a hypo- thetical other state but a real one. Companies in metropolitan Kansas City often shift sides and threaten to do so much more often than they actually shift. That threat keeps both states as well as the cities and counties in either state in one shared state--and that is the state of alert. Admittedly, this argument will not fit well onto a billboard, but it should be part of the positioning strategy. Donovan Mouton of the Kansas City Mayo's office made a point that was overlooked in the hubbub but that argues well for a more inclusive strategy. Mouton suggested that in the pursuit of high tech opportunities for the area we not overlook "the low tech or creative" enterprises. Although everyone agreed on the virtue of "growing one's own," the temptation is to think large and/or sophisticated, like say a Cerner or a CyDex. Mouton was thinking more expansively than that.

Overland Park businessman John Young has been practicing what Mouton preaches. He has done exceedingly well by teaching entrepreneurial skills to the nation's plumbing and HVAC contractors. In the process, he and his partner, Jim Abrams, have converted at least a thousand mom and pop shops across the nation into sophisticated and highly profitable small businesses. More than 150 of them have already cashed out as millionaires.

One of Young's for-profit enter- prises, Millennium Academy, teaches high-level sales and entrepreneurial skills to the technicians themselves. The teaching changes the very way they look at the world. They cease to see themselves as "wage slaves" and begin to see themselves as masters of their own destiny. The process makes them not only better workers but also better citizens.

Imagine if a metropolitan area could infuse that spirit throughout all its work force, especially an area already blessed with a highly diverse economy, low barriers of entry, affordable utilities, ample space to grow, a terrific work ethic, and a unique bi-state configuration that assures in perpetuity a hospitable economic development climate. Now you're talking about Kansas City, the entrepreneurial capital of America. (Okay, seven words)

Kansas City needs only one thing to make this position a reality: a well-endowed foundation dedicated to preserving and promoting the entrepreneurial spirit. As Pete Fullerton of Platte County pointed out, the area has that too in the Kauffman Foundation. Fullerton mentions of Kauffman's commitment to entrepreneurial uplift, "We need to hope that they get refocused on that."

Carl Schramm is leading the battle at Kauffman to refocus its founde's spirit. Those who are following his struggles know that Schramm, if he is to succeed, will need all the encouragement he can get. We wish him well. There is a lot at stake.