One of the tricks for becoming successful is to listen to and learn from successful people. You know, people such as Ken Fisher.
Fisher is listed by Forbes.com as the 236th wealthiest person in the United States, with a net worth of $2.7 billion. His Fisher Investments, based in Woodside, Calif., has a campus in Camas that employs 900 people and also has offices in London and in Frankfurt, Germany. So, when Fisher talks, we would be wise to listen. Therefore, we have been pondering the keynote address he delivered last week at The Columbian’s 2015 Economic Forecast Breakfast. Dry, quirky, and prescient, Fisher provided a thoughtful critique of the virtues of Clark County.
Among the insight: “America has a big divide between urbanness and non-urbanness, and non-urbanness is winning.” And: “I’ve got a lot of class, and all of it’s low. I’ve got a lot of taste, and all of it’s bad. I see all these people who suffer from inferiority complexes who want to go and be a foodie in Portland. I will do that when I’m dragged across the (Columbia) river. Let Portland be Portland; you guys be you.” That, for an audience made up mostly of Clark County business leaders, served as an obvious applause line. More important, it served as food for thought.
Vancouver inevitably is defined by its proximity to Portland, torn between its status as a bedroom community and a desire to forge its own economic path. That dichotomy came to the forefront during the debate over the now-defunct Columbia River Crossing project in the form of strident feelings about the prospect of light rail being extended into Clark County. Few things speak of “urbanness” as clearly as mass transit, and the arguments that ensued largely were driven by that fact.