Welcome to Curated Morning. A compendium of news, information, and stories that economic development professionals, community development leaders and elected officials read every week to stay in touch with what is happening in our economy.

The Main Thing:

The Flying Saucer Motel, Rockford IL by Marty Vanags

You might have noticed that Curated Morning hasn’t landed in your inbox for a couple of weeks. There’s a reason for that. I’ve switched to sending the newsletter every other week, so now you’re getting it on the second and fourth Thursdays each month.

The other reason is that I just needed a mental break. Curating and sharing news from different sources takes a lot of energy, and since I do it all myself, it can be a lot to handle.

There’s a lot going on in the world right now—wars, tariffs, inequality, discrimination, and even masked agents killing Americans without barely any consequences. It can feel overwhelming. I needed some time to reflect on whether sending out a weekly economic development newsletter still made sense in times like these.

While I was thinking about what to do next, a lifelong hobby of mine suddenly took off. That hobby is art—especially sketching and coloring buildings, objects, and landscapes that catch my eye.

With my art activity picking up—and after my family ran out of fridge space and got tired of my posts in the family chat—I started an Instagram page (@martyart75) to share my work. Honestly, I didn't care much if anyone saw or liked it. Since social media is the most common way to share what is going on in our personal live, I thought why not join in and see where this goes.

My posts started to get noticed, and when I shared a drawing of a well-known iconic restaurant and pub from my college town, things really took off. Within two weeks, across two social media platforms, my artwork post received over 2,000 likes, and more than two dozen people asked about buying a print. Some might even call that ‘going viral.’

I was honestly shocked. Me, selling art online? Of course, I had a bout of imposter syndrome and thought, "This isn’t really possible, since I’m self-taught and not that good." But as I kept going, I sold more art, took on commissions for buildings and homes, got invited to fundraising auctions, and was even asked to have my own exhibit at a community art event called ArtScene here in Rockford later this month.

While all of this was happening, I realized I was waking up each morning more interested in sketching than in writing poignant, compelling pieces about economic development, technology, the environment, or data centers. At least I thought they were poignant and compelling. Did you?

Taking a picture of a building and then sitting down to interpret it through sketching, coloring, or painting is a very satisfying and fulfilling activity. Especially if you have a smidgen of talent somewhere in your DNA, which apparently some people think I do, based on the experience described above. Posting it and watching the ‘likes’ grow exponentially is also an amazing dopamine high every morning (and at noon, at night, and whenever you feel like noticing that someone admires what you are doing).

How does this compare to a career in economic development? Honestly, I’m still figuring that out. I loved working with communities and finding ways to help them grow, even if they weren’t the most popular or attractive places.

I enjoyed developing marketing campaigns and communication plans to help people discover the unique and interesting communities I worked in.

I enjoyed developing relationships with people outside the community, including site selectors, industry professionals, and other economic developers. I enjoyed trying to understand how local economies work.

I loved attending conferences, catching up with old friends and colleagues, making new connections, and serving on committees and boards to help move the industry forward. Most of my ideas for improving local economies came from these events, where I borrowed, adapted, or combined existing programs, remembering that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

Right now, though, nothing compares to the joy and peace I feel when I put on some calming music, grab my pencils, pens, and markers, and create my own version of a building in my hometown, an old neon sign, a flower garden, or even a local brewery (if you know me, you know). Sharing it online and seeing people appreciate it is the best feeling.

At first, I wondered if I should have started making art earlier in life. But it wouldn’t have worked the same way. My experiences—working in five communities across three states, going through two marriages, raising two wonderful daughters, and having a loving family—plus all my ups and downs, have shaped my art so far. I believe these experiences will keep influencing my work. I also have a lot of thoughts about how art and economic development can go hand in hand. I’ll share more about that soon.

I haven’t left economic development behind, but I’ve realized that what makes a community appealing to me is a lively art scene, culture, and other non-tangible characteristics.

This reminds me of when I heard Texas governor Rick Perry explain at an annual IEDC conference in Houston why Boeing picked Chicago over Dallas for its headquarters move from Seattle (before later moving to Washington, D.C., and Virginia). When everything else was equal, it came down to culture: The Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Lyric Opera, and so on. These were the deciding factors that gave Chicago the edge.

The takeaway is simple: Culture matters. Art matters. Things like tax incentives, power grids, and infrastructure are important, but ultimately, people want to live in places that are attractive, growing, and rich in culture.

You'll hear more about this in future Curated Mornings. This is a natural and important change for me. If you’ve read this far, thank you. If you're thinking, "This isn’t for me," feel free to unsubscribe—I understand, and we can still be friends.

But if you find this interesting and want to learn more about how art can impact economic development—and follow my personal journey—let’s go on this ride together.

You can check out more of my art at my website: www.martyart.works

Focus On AI

The Robot Can't Do This: Why Human Leadership Is AI's Most Valuable Upgrade

McKinsey's latest piece cuts through the noise on AI adoption with a refreshingly human message: the leaders who will thrive in the AI era aren't the ones who outsource the most to algorithms. Instead, they're the ones who double down on the things AI simply cannot do. AI can write, design, code, and automate tasks at remarkable speed, but it still cannot set ambitious organizational goals, read emotional undercurrents in a room, make genuinely tough judgment calls, or build trust among stakeholders.

According to McKinsey, those irreplaceable human capacities, such as aspiration, judgment, and creativity, are becoming more critical, not less, as AI handles the transactional and analytical heavy lifting. The article also challenges the way organizations identify future leaders, arguing that institutions must "tear through the paper ceiling" by moving beyond academic credentials toward skills-based hiring and intrinsic qualities, including resilience, intellectual curiosity, and collaborative instincts. These characteristics predict long-term success better than a résumé ever could.

Why This Matters: Economic development professionals are in the business of leadership. They are leading organizations, coalitions, and communities through change. The AI transformation isn't just a technology story; it's a talent and organizational story that plays out in every business your team is trying to attract, retain, or grow. The companies relocating or expanding in your region are grappling with exactly these questions: who leads in an AI-augmented workplace, and how do they develop them? That makes this a workforce development conversation as much as a technology one, and it's an opportunity for economic developers to connect local colleges, workforce boards, and employer partners around building the next generation of AI-fluent, human-centered leaders.

Here are some things you can do as an economic development professional to work with this challenge:

You’ve heard this one before: Soft skills. Reframe your workforce narrative around "human + AI" soft skills. Work with your local workforce development board and community college partners to identify and promote training programs that develop judgment, communication, and creative problem-solving alongside AI tool literacy. These are the skills employers are saying they can't find and the ones AI will never replace.
Audit your region's talent pipeline through a skills-based lens. Convene a roundtable with major employers to understand whether hiring practices are inadvertently filtering out high-potential candidates due to credential requirements rather than actual capability gaps. Position your region as a leader in skills-based talent development and as a business-attraction differentiator.
Incorporate AI leadership readiness into your business retention and expansion (BRE) conversations. When visiting existing employers, ask how they're developing their leaders for AI integration. This positions you as a strategic partner, surfaces workforce training needs you can help address, and generates intelligence about which companies may be scaling up or at risk of falling behind.

Read Building leaders in the age of AI by Bob Sternfels, Børge Brende, and Daniel Pacthod | McKinsey and Company -- Strategy and Corporate Finance

How to "do" Retention

The Retention Work You Haven't Done Yet: What the Great Ownership Transfer Means for Economic Developers

Business retention is the cornerstone of economic development: the companies you already have matter more than those you hope to attract. Yet most BR&E programs focus on keeping businesses operating rather than ensuring they remain locally owned. Soon, that difference will become critical.

By 2035, roughly six million small and medium-sized businesses will face ownership transitions as baby boomers retire — representing up to $5 trillion in enterprise value. McKinsey calls this the Great Ownership Transfer, and for economic developers, it is not a background trend. It is the next decade of your work, whether you've planned for it or not.

Here’s the core challenge: 92% of small business exits result in closure, not sale. This is not due to a lack of viability, but to inadequate infrastructure for ownership transfer. Owners don’t plan, buyers lack financing, and the necessary market remains undeveloped while economic developers focus elsewhere. Addressing this is urgent.

Rural areas are particularly vulnerable because small businesses often account for a larger share of local employment and economic activity. If a manufacturing shop, construction firm, or service provider closes due to a failed ownership transition, the consequences ripple through the local economy — affecting jobs, supply chains, and tax bases.

This is not an abstraction. This is the hardware store, the machine shop, the family distributor that has employed your neighbors for thirty years. When it closes, it doesn't get replaced by a recruitment win. It becomes a gap.

Here’s what you can do as an economic developer right now:

Start with your existing BR&E visits — and ask better questions. You're already talking to business owners. Add succession to the conversation. Who owns this business? What's the plan in five years? Have you considered what will happen to your employees if you close? These conversations feel personal, but they are about economic development. They are also, frankly, the most useful thing you can do right now.
Next, create a map of ownership transition risk in your area. Identify businesses with older owners who lack succession plans or buyers, and reach out to them before any closure decisions are made. Proactive preparation helps avoid negative economic impacts when transitions occur. To clarify your next steps:Begin by identifying stakeholders interested in local ownership transfer. Reach out to small business owners, local buyers, and financial intermediaries, and establish ongoing meetings or workshops on the topic. Regularly include ownership transition in your small business programming, making it a continuous focus rather than a one-time seminar.
Finally, encourage broad participation in business ownership transitions. Work to connect underrepresented groups to these opportunities, aiming for ownership parity that can increase household wealth. Make expanding access a core part of your economic development work.

The McKinsey report frames this as a structural test of America's ability to preserve local jobs and economic mobility—a direct challenge for economic developers. We are uniquely positioned: closest to businesses, owners, and the communities that depend on them.

The 'Great Ownership Transfer' calls for action, something economic developers are already equipped to deliver.

The real question is whether economic developers will take action before businesses close, or respond only after it’s too late.

Overheard:

The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been concealed by the answers.

— James Baldwin

The Rabbit Hole:

The Best Way to Understand a Town: Go to Its Library

When I was a kid, my mom would periodically load me into the car and drive me to the library. Not as punishment. As routine. Like grocery shopping or going to church. I'd walk out with a stack of books taller than my head, read them all week, and repeat the process the following week.

The habit stuck. Now whenever I'm in a new town for work, I skip the chamber of commerce tour and head straight for the local library or bookstore. You learn more about a community in twenty minutes wandering the stacks than you will in two hours of listening to someone's PowerPoint about their strategic plan.

Elle Decor put together a list of the best libraries in every state, and it's a reminder that some of our most beautiful public spaces are the ones that don't charge admission. The 19th-century Iowa State Law Library looks like something out of Beauty and the Beast, with spiral staircases that feel like lacework and endless rows of books. Seattle's glass and steel structure has a "book spiral" that lets you browse continuously across multiple floors. The New York Public Library still has lions guarding the entrance and marble covering everything inside.

These buildings represent something we've mostly forgotten how to do: make long-term investments in genuinely public spaces that serve everyone regardless of income. No memberships. No cover charge. No expectation that you'll buy something. Just show up, grab a book, sit down. The doors are open.

You can tell everything you need to know about a community's priorities by whether its library is thriving or barely surviving. Economic development folks love to talk about quality of place and talent attraction. Meanwhile, the library down the street is operating on a shoestring budget with hours that make it impossible for working people to actually use it.

Next time you're traveling, skip the welcome center. Go to the library. It'll tell you the truth.

See the best library in every state

Another Rabbit Hole:

5 Ways That We’re Moving Away From Screens and Toward Living IRL by Reimagining the Civic Commons | Medium -- From schools to dance clubs, how intentional public spaces can help our social connection and wellbeing blossom offline.

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With over three decades of experience in economic development, public administration, and small business, I can now bring my expertise to benefit you. What are the issues facing your community? What obstacles are you facing in growing your business? Let's work on this together.

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Your Curated Morning (#229) for April 9, 2026 is here!