Chattanooga’s Gross Metropolitan Product is $19.7 billion annually. In contrast, the Tell the World! job creation effort consists of $2.25 million each year . That’s .01% of the economy we’re working to accelerate.

In other words, economic development is an impossible task without the willing support of the thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of people who participate in our economy.

Not so long ago, Chattanooga’s economy rested snugly on a long-standing business legacy. Our geographic advantages and a handful of business leaders provided opportunities for many.

Today, competition is fiercer and the pace of change is more rapid. Employees in Chattanooga must somehow deliver more value than workers in other countries who work for pennies an hour.

As a result, the time when our region could sustain economic growth without a consciously coordinated effort is long past. That’s why Tell the World! is so important.

Since July 2003, we’ve built a solid foundation for economic growth, and our economy continues to respond by creating new jobs. According to a study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, our region has recovered all of the jobs lost during the downturn in 2000 and added at least 800 new jobs.

At the same time, we’ve experienced dramatic successes in competing with other communities to win new companies like T-Mobile, Aerisyn, and TMIO, while retaining and growing existing operations like Wrigley, DUSA and U.S. Xpress. Every one of these projects has required months and sometimes years of focused effort.

We’re less than three years into our first comprehensive economic development campaign, but places like Memphis, Nashville, Mobile, and Oklahoma City first implemented similar strategies 10-15 years ago. The track record of these more established programs tells us much about what to expect.

Only consistent effort over time will allow us to achieve our economic potential and only if a critical mass of our citizenry embraces the effort by supporting the continued strengthening of public schools, by keeping our airport busy, and by becoming a part of a culture that backs the hard and often incremental work required to grow our economy.

We’ve taken the first few steps toward a more proactive and insightful approach to economic growth. Early results are promising. Only one question remains: How willing is the elephant?