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In Our View: Flexible Workers

Former HP employees demonstrate how to succeed even in tough times

The Columbian
Published: March 8, 2010, 12:00am

Amid the depressing stories, the ones about foreclosures and layoffs and 14 percent unemployment locally, a little digging can unearth some successes.

Successes such as Doug Vaughan, who has opened Snap Fitness in Woodland. And Bill Huseby, who has started Sigma Design. And Dave Frei and Jennifer Corio, a husband-and-wife team who have started Cobalt Designworks.

They and others who were profiled recently in The Columbian are all former Hewlett-Packard workers in Clark County who have moved on to other endeavors as HP has reduced its work force in the area.

While their stories are varied, the former HP workers share a role in representing the changing economy and the fact that a recession can be an opportunity rather than a death knell.

Through all that, they reflect several factors that are crucial to the development of a sturdy and vibrant economy:

• A well-educated work force is much more adaptable than a poorly educated one. Throughout human history, the future has belonged to the entrepreneurs and the thinkers who can turn desperation into inspiration.

• A creative economy is crucial to the business health of an area, providing a constant stream of innovation and development. On the other hand, regions that are thick with manufacturing and little else are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns.

• Retaining qualified workers is as important to a region as attracting those workers in the first place. The problems of economically depressed areas often are compounded by the “brain drain” that results when displaced workers leave the area because of a lack of opportunity.

As Frei told reporter Libby Tucker of The Columbian: “HP isn’t a directive-type company; they set an objective, put quality people on it and get out of the way. It put in my mind as long as we set our objectives and work toward them and learn as we go, I feel comfortable we have the skills to get there.”

That could be an effective mantra for any business endeavor, and it’s one that is transferable across industries. It also is a key for developing an economy that can weather a recession.

The politicians would have us believe that bailouts and stimulus packages and governmental policies have prevented economic collapse over the past two years. We aren’t so quick to applaud those self-congratulatory legislators. We would rather give credit to the workers who have adjusted to changing times; to the innovators who have welcomed opportunity when it has knocked; and to the entrepreneurs who have risked much during a time of uncertainty.

As British poet Arthur Williams Edgar O’Shaughnessy wrote in the 19th century, “We are the music-makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” The foundation for such dreaming is built on education. As industry and technology and consumer demands continue to change at a lightning pace, the availability of a work force that is flexible has continued to grow in importance. The ability to dream has rarely been so important.

This is not meant to sound Pollyanish. The economic downturn has adversely affected countless people in our community. Times are tough, and an entrepreneurial spirit is not a magic wand that can instantly make everything better.

As Harry S. Truman is credited with being the first to say: “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”

That aphorism continues to hold true. Still, there are some happy stories, and The Columbian is profiling many of them with a new feature called “You’re Hired!” that appears on Fridays.

It’s an important reminder that amid the despair there are many successes.

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