FOOTNOTE: EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.
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Swansey and a pair of double-doubles lead No. 7 Trailblazers to road win over Olney Central
Swansey and a pair of double-doubles lead No. 7 Trailblazers to road win over Olney Central
OLNEY, Ill. – The Vincennes University men’s basketball team held their position this week in the NJCAA Division I National rankings, checking in again at No. 7 in this week’s polls, while moving up to No. 3 in the JUCO Advocate Media Poll and holding at No. 3 in the Nielsen File Top-25 rankings for this week.
The Blazers hit the road Wednesday night for the final time this regular season and faced the short-handed Olney Central College Blue Knights.
Olney Central came into Wednesday night’s contest with only six active players and the depth of the No. 7 Trailblazers took over as Vincennes cruised late to a big 85-63 victory over Olney Central.
It was a slow start for the Trailblazers Wednesday night as VU was playing without sophomore and 2024 All-American Lebron Thomas who was out due to injury.
The first half was back and forth with Olney Central seemingly grabbing the early momentum with a 20-15 lead before VU responded with 14 straight points to take a 29-20 lead.
This 14-0 run was part of a larger 21-2 scoring run as Vincennes would go on to outscore the Blue Knights 27-6 to close out the first half and take a commanding 42-26 lead into the locker room at the break.
Olney Central looked to regain the momentum early in the first half and get the home crowd back into the game, opening the second half with five straight points, which was immediately answered by VU with six points.
VU would get their lead up to 22 after a small 8-0 scoring run and would continue to hold the advantage above 20 points for the remainder of the game.
Olney Central attempted one last comeback with five straight points but were unable to cut the lead back down below 20 as the Trailblazers cruised down the stretch to pick up their 18th straight victory by the final score of 85-63.
“We had a few guys tonight in moments that would step up and got things going,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I thought Kenaz was good in the second half. I really was unhappy with him in the first half. He was floating around in the short corner when he needed to be pinning in the post and we challenged him pretty good at halftime. I challenged a lot of people tonight. At some point, you’ve got to have some real fight.”
“This is dog-eat-dog out here,” Franklin added. “This is the strong survive and the weak are going home. There are not that many opportunities at the next level or to be a National Champion and to make it at this level. It’s going to be a fight. You’ve got to go out there and prove it. We’ve got to get a little tougher, a little nastier. In the second half Kenaz got a little more committed and a little bit tougher and you see the difference.”
“But I can tell you that our place is fair,” Franklin said. “If you want to see that on display, we gave guys opportunities and we kept going around until we found somebody that would do it. When they did it, you saw Kenaz stayed out there on the floor the whole second half. Meyoh’s minutes went way up. Taveon Smith’s minutes got better as it went along tonight. It’s just how it goes here. We had a opportunity knock for these point guards tonight and hopefully they are more comfortable out there on Saturday if they need to be playing the whole game again. I have no idea if Lebron will play or not.”
VU was led offensively by a big night off the bench by freshman Meyoh Swansey (Olympia Fields, Ill.) who was an efficient six for eight shooting from the floor, including hitting four threes and doubling his previous season high with a total of 16 points on the night.
Sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) secured his third double-double of the season with 14 points and a team-high 13 rebounds, while also dishing out five assists, while fellow sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) finished off his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Freshman Kenaz Ochogwu (E. Providence, R.I.) had a big second half to close out his night with 14 points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks, while freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
“I thought Dayton Williams was a little bit better tonight,” Franklin said. “He didn’t score a ton of points but he was more active. I thought defensively, early in the game, he was good because he took Bethea out early, which was key.”
“We had an opportunity to get a big lead in the first five to 10 minutes of the game because we were getting plenty of stops,” Franklin added. “But we just wouldn’t finish and finalize. Some of that just comes down to being tough, nasty and locking in and these guys are not going to make it at the next level if they don’t get it now. They’ve got to get it or we’re just pretending. So I’m trying and I’m trying really hard to push these guys, whether they like it or don’t, because if I don’t, it’s just pretend. If we do get them an opportunity at the next level, they are not going to make it because it is dog-eat-dog every day. Especially now that money is involved. So hopefully we are getting that across to them because I am not going to be a part of the problem.”
“I think we want to, we’re seeking it,” Franklin said. “I think when you keep hammering at it, you are going to have moments like Kenaz tonight who said okay. Now we’ll see if he carries that over. If he does, he can have a successful career. Kenaz can go on and get school paid for the whole time. He can become a player, get a degree, have a good job and life can be good. But he is going to have to fight for it and we are going to try to set it up for him where we tell him the truth and put him in positions to do it.”
“We had some that did it tonight and we didn’t have quite enough and we’ll go back and we’ll keep hammering at it the next couple of days and hopefully on Saturday, whoever we have available will fight like heck for their opportunity because it is dog-eat-dog,” Franklin added.
The Trailblazers will return home to the Physical Education Complex as they get set to close out the final two games of the 2024-25 regular season, beginning Saturday, March 1 when VU hosts Wabash Valley College at 7 p.m. eastern.
This game will be Good Samaritan Night at the P.E. Complex, sponsored by Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes and is also VU’s annual Blaze to a Community Cure Cancer Awareness Night as well.
Funds raised through ticket sales, donations and special merchandise sales leading up to, as well as the day of the event, will be directed toward assisting families in the Vincennes community who are facing cancer-related difficulties. A portion of the funds will also go toward cancer research, treatment and local support services.
The Blazers will then return to the home floor Tuesday, March 4 for the regular season finale on Sophomore Night inside the P.E. Complex when VU hosts Kaskaskia College at 7 p.m. eastern.
“I’m pushing right now because I know that we are running out of time, we’ve got an opportunity,” Franklin said. “Some of these guys may never have this opportunity again. It’s now, it’s not going to be in three months, it’s now. They have a really good opportunity to do some good things for themselves and their teammates but they have to get over that edge and that’s what I thought tonight was.”
“We had some that did, Taveon, Kenaz, Meyoh, were all guys that made steps forward in my mind,” Franklin added. “I thought Dayton made a little step forward and looked a little more comfortable. So hopefully what that means is sometimes you get that one game and in the next game you’ll really see him take off. But that’s what it is and that’s what I’ll take away from this game.”
“Hopefully we get a big crowd on Saturday,” Franklin said. “We need it. We need some energy, we need whatever helps us to do it. Everything is still on the line for us. We’re now 14-0 in the league. We’re looking to be 16-0, that’s hard. We’re pushing our guys to do this and our guys are in a lot better position right now than everybody else.”
“There’s a reason,” Franklin added. “Our standards are certain standards and those standards that we keep grinding for, it’s amazing what happens. We’re in a position where we have a chance to do this. These young men have this position where they have a chance to make a big run right now where they could really do some great things. Look at that wall inside the P.E. Complex and look at those National Champions and let me read off to you where they all went. They all graduated, they all went through all four years and graduated. They all went Division I or Division II. We’ve got one in the NBA right now that’s going to go on and make a fortune. You can watch him out there right now, he’s not bothered by any of it because he knows how to do it. We had all kinds of those guys. Success and fighting to learn what you have to do to be successful, that’s what it breeds.”
“That’s what we are pushing for and we’re not going to leave here tonight very satisfied across the board with it,” Franklin said. “We’re going to go back and push again these next couple of days and it would be really great to get the crowd out there, big crowd, be excited and help us have the energy to really do something special. We have a chance to win Saturday and Tuesday and finish this regular season 16-0. There are very, very few teams who can go undefeated in this league and it probably puts you out at Hutch even before the tournament has started. I need everybody to get out and help us push over that hill.”
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (85): Christian Andrews 2-12 0-0 5, Bryan Akanmu 4-8 6-10 14, Travelle Bryson 3-8 0-0 8, Dayton Williams 3-9 2-2 9, Hussein Elmaraghy 0-2 0-0 0, Meyoh Swansey 6-8 0-0 16, Jalen Calloway 1-3 0-0 3, Taveon Smith 2-8 1-2 6, Michael Cooper 3-8 4-4 10, Ali Sakho 0-1 0-0 0, Kenaz Ochogwu 6-7 2-2 14, Team 30-74 15-20 85.
VU (24-3 14-0) – 42 43 – 85
Olney Central – 26 37 – 63
Three-point goals: VU 10 (Swansey 4, Bryson 2, Andrews, Williams, Calloway, Smith). Rebounds: VU 57 (Akanmu 13). Assists: VU 23 (Calloway 6). Steals: VU 0. Blocked Shots: VU 7 (Williams 2, Ochogwu 2). Turnovers: VU 10. Personal Fouls: VU 21. Fouled out: None.
Lady Trailblazers survive tough road test at Olney Central College
Lady Trailblazers survive tough road test at Olney Central College
OLNEY, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers were on the road for the final time during the 2024-25 regular season Wednesday night heading to nearby Olney, Ill. to face off against the Lady Blue Knights of Olney Central College.
The Lady Blazers faced a tough road battle against the Lady Blue Knights but were able to use a big second half to pick up the 69-63 victory.
VU opened the game off to a hot start, using an early 11-3 scoring run to pull ahead 11-6 midway through the first quarter.
Olney Central would cut the deficit back to one before the Lady Blazers finished the opening quarter with the final four points to take a 17-12 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
Vincennes would continue to add to this lead early in the second quarter, building their first double-digit lead of the night at 27-16.
Olney Central would respond however and close out the first half of play strong, scoring the final 10 points of the half to even the score 29-29 at the halftime break.
Olney Central continued this momentum into the second half, using a 7-0 run in the third quarter to take a 36-30 lead before the Lady Blazers answered with three straight triples to regain the lead at 39-36.
This was the beginning of a 16-2 scoring run which saw the Blazers build a 46-38 advantage midway through the third period.
Olney Central continued their trend of closing out quarters strong, battling back to even the score at 48-48 before the Lady Blazers hit a basket at the buzzer to take a 50-48 lead into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was back and forth, much like the rest of the game, with Vincennes grabbing the early advantage with a 60-55 lead.
VU kept the pressure on down the stretch and would get some breathing room late with four straight points to increase their lead to seven.
Olney Central kept fighting but were unable to overcome this deficit at the Lady Blazers closed out the 69-63 road Region 24 victory over Olney Central College.
The Lady Trailblazers were led offensively by freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) who came off the bench to add 17 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Freshman Delora Pricop (Satu Mare, Romania) fell just short of a double-double with 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
Sophomore Marta Gutierrez (Alicante, Spain) finished her night with 11 points, six assists and four rebounds, while freshman Emani Washington (Indianapolis, Ind.) added 11 points, five assists and a team-high three steals.
Freshmen Jazmyn Robey (Sellersburg, Ind.) and Netala Dixon (Dyersburg, Tenn.) were just short of scoring in double figures, with Robey finishing with nine points and six rebounds and Dixon ending with nine points and team-highs with 12 rebounds and seven assists.
The Lady Trailblazers will return home to the P.E. Complex Saturday, March 1 as the Lady Blazers close out the 2024-25 regular season on Sophomore Night against No. 5 ranked Wabash Valley College at 5 p.m. eastern.
Saturday is also Good Samaritan Night at the Physical Education Complex sponsored by Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes and also VU’s annual Blaze to a Community Cure Cancer Awareness Night.
Funds raised through ticket sales, donations and special merchandise sales leading up to, as well as the day of the event, will be directed toward assisting families in the Vincennes community who are facing cancer-related difficulties. A portion of the funds will also go toward cancer research, treatment and local support services.
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (69): Jazmyn Robey 3-10 0-0 9, Marta Gutierrez 4-9 3-4 11, Emani Washington 4-9 1-2 11, Netala Dixon 3-10 3-5 9, Delora Pricop 5-13 2-2 12, Ahmya Thomas 7-13 1-2 17, Iris Comesana 0-1 0-0 0, Team 26-65 10-15 69.
VU (16-13, 10-3) – 17 12 21 19 – 69
Olney Central – 12 17 19 15 – 63
Three-point goals: VU 7 (Robey 3, Washington 2, Thomas 2). Rebounds: VU 41 (Dixon 12). Assists: VU 23 (Dixon 7). Steals: VU 9 (Washington 3). Blocked Shots: VU 5 (Pricop 3). Turnovers: VU 19. Personal Fouls: VU 19. Fouled Out: Robey
UE Men’s basketball falls short in home finale
Men’s basketball falls short in home finale
Aces fall by four points to Bulldogs
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Tayshawn Comer scored 20 points and Tanner Cuff added 14 to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team in Wednesday’s home finale which saw the Purple Aces fall to Drake by a final score of 65-61 at the Ford Center.
Comer played all 40 minutes and was 7-for-14 from the field. Cuff was 5-of-8 from the floor on his way to the 14-point game. Both had three assists. Gabriel Pozzato finished with 9 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists.
“I am proud of our guys for how we responded and gave ourselves a chance to win it,” Evansville head coach David Ragland said after the game. “Unfortunately, we did not get the win, but we showed a lot of character and that we can play with anyone in the league.”
Connor Turnbull got UE on the board before Drake scored nine in a row to take the early lead. Tayshawn Comer ended the stretch before Turnbull registered the next five points to tie the game at 9-9 just over eight minutes into the game.
Three minutes later, the Purple Aces retook a 13-12 lead when Josh Hughes drained a pair of free throws. Over the course of the first half, the teams swapped the lead 11 times. Inside the 5-minute mark, Gabriel Pozzato hit a basket that put Evansville on top at 23-22. The Bulldogs countered with an 8-0 rally to go up by seven.
Two more tallies from Comer along with a basket by Hughes cut the deficit to five (32-27) with just under a minute left until the break. Drake had a quick response over the final seconds, scoring the last five points including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 38-27 lead into halftime.
Out of the break, the Aces knocked down their first four shots while scoring the first ten points to get within one. Josh Hughes, Michael Day, Tanner Cuff, and Pozzato each posted baskets during the rally. On the other end, the Bulldogs got on track with a 6-0 spurt that put them back up by seven – 44-37 – with just under 14 minutes left in the contest.
UE had a response once again, tying the game at 46-46 when Cuff hit a layup with 10:22 on the clock. Less than a minute later, his 3-pointer gave UE a 49-48 lead. Drake answered with five in a row to go back up by four. With the Bulldogs up five at the entering the final three minutes, Evansville clawed its way back within a point with 1:21 left as Cuff converted another free throw.
Drake knocked down its late free throws to seal the win. Daniel Abreu paced the Bulldogs with 19 points while Tavion Banks had 15. Evansville finished with the 46.8%-40.7% shooting advantage while edging the Bulldogs on the glass by a 31-30 total.
Sunday’s regular season finale will see the Aces travel to Illinois State for a 2 p.m. game in Normal, Ill.
-www.GoPurpleAces.com-
Eagles 4th at OVC Indoor Championships as Austin named Freshman of Year
Eagles 4th at OVC Indoor Championships as Austin named Freshman of Year
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Women’s Track & Field freshman Hadessah Austin was named the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Freshman of the Year after winning a pair of titles at the OVC Indoor Championships Tuesday and Wednesday.
Austin cruised to a win in the 5,000 meters Tuesday to claim her first-career OVC championship. She finished the race in 17 minutes, 10.30 seconds, nine seconds in front of teammate Elle Hall, who was second with a time of 17:19.87.
On Wednesday, Austin raced to her second title of the meet as she finished first in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:47.76.
Austin’s wins were two of three first-place finishes for the Screaming Eagles, who placed fourth as a team with 60 points.
USI’s distance medley relay team of freshmen Addison Applegate and Abrielle Richard, junior Emily Rempe and senior Audrey Comastri finished first Tuesday evening. The quartet clocked a time of 11:57.47 to claim the Eagles’ first-ever relay title at the Division I level.
Richard nearly came up with a second win on the week as she finished second in the finals of the 800 meters. The Newburgh, Indiana, native clocked the fastest time in the prelims Tuesday and had the lead going into the final turn Wednesday; but she stumbled slightly in the final stretch, allowing Southeast Missouri State University’s Erika Mellor to claim the win by a quarter of a second margin.
As a team, the Eagles had six podium finishes. Comastri earned a third-place finish in the mile on Wednesday, while Hall had the second-place showing in the 5,000 meters before finishing fifth in the 3,000 meters.
Sophomore Zoe Seward also scored for the Eagles with a fifth-place showing in the 5,000 meters.
USI opens the 2025 outdoor season March 27-29 with meets scheduled at the Raleigh Relays March 27-29 in Raleigh, North Carolina, the WashU Distance Carnival in St. Louis March 27-28, and the Pacesetter Sports Invitational March 29 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
USI opens home schedule with huge win over SLU
USI opens home schedule with huge win over SLU
Next Game: vs. Bowling Green State University • 2/28/2025 | Noon
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball opened the 2025 home schedule with a dominating 11-4 win over Saint Louis University Wednesday afternoon at the USI Baseball Field. USI ends the day 5-2 overall in 2025, while SLU is 3-5 to begin its season.
The USI offense set the tone for the contest, scoring four in the first, and one in the third to take a 5-2 lead. USI junior first baseman Kannon Coakley started the scoring with a RBI double, while sophomore designated hitter Cameron Boyd highlighted the four-run frame with a RBI triple. Boyd would strike again in the third with a RBI single to produce the fifth run of the contest.
After a scoreless fourth for USI, the Eagles put the game out of reach with three runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to lead 11-2. Junior shortstop Clayton Slack had the big RBI triple in the fifth and junior leftfielder BJ Banyon had a two-run single in the sixth to lead the rallies.
The Billikens would get an unearned run in the seventh and a final tally in the ninth before USI closed the door on the 11-4 victory.
Overall at the plate, Banyon, Coakley, and sophomore third baseman Parker Martin had three hits each, while Boyd had a team-high three RBIs.
On the mound, freshman right-hander Sage Stout picked up his second win of the season in relief. Stout (2-0) threw 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball and allowed a walk in facing five batters.
Senior right-hander Hiroyuki Yamada started for the Eagles and picked up the no-decision. Yamada allowed two runs on two hits and four walks, while striking out four in four innings of work.
USI sent a total of six hurlers to the mound and finished with a combined nine strikeouts.
Up Next for the Eagles:
The Eagles are away from the USI Baseball Field for the next eight games, beginning this weekend when they play two games against Bowling Green State University and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. USI will play BGSU Friday at noon and Saturday at 4 p.m. while taking on SIU Friday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.
USI will be playing BGSU, which is 4-2, for the first time in the baseball program’s history. SIU, which was 4-3 to start the year, leads the all-time series with USI, 4-1, after winning last year’s meeting in Carbondale, 7-5.
Due to ever-changing weather in February and March, USI encourages fans to watch for potential schedule changes on USIScreamingEagles.com, X, and Facebook.
OP-ED: Who is Moving Evansville’s Cheese?
Who is Moving Evansville’s Cheese?
By Jason Salstrom
February 27, 2025
For generations, Evansville’s economy ran on a strong foundation: factories produced, paychecks arrived, and families built their futures. Our “cheese”—the prosperity of stable industries—was secure. But just as electricity rewrote our way of life a century ago, AI, automation, and digital manufacturing are doing the same today, and it’s just the beginning. The shift is happening whether we acknowledge it or not. The only question that matters is: will we
act now and shape our future, or hem and haw, stuck, clinging to a disappearing past?
Our situation reminded me of Spencer Johnson’s classic business fable Who Moved My Cheese? The story is about four residents of a maze: two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little people, Hem and Haw. Every morning, the four headed out into the maze to get their
cheese, their livelihood, at the Cheese Station. Below is my adaptation, staying true to the spirit of the tale.
Cheese Station E was built during the last great shift in the maze, when electricity, the primary driver of the Second Industrial Revolution, changed how we worked, and where we lived, and triggered the growth of government.
In those days, the mice and the little people were more alike than they are today. Mice, being mice, were always on their toes, ever alert to any change, threat, or new opportunity. The little people, born at a time of change, had the pioneering culture of self-reliance to lean into a changing maze, learn, make hard choices, and adapt.
However, as time went by and the maze stabilized into the economy we know, getting cheese from Cheese Station E became a way of life. Mice, being mice, remained vigilant, ever ready for any disruption or new opportunity. Most of the little people, being little people, grew comfortable, even complacent, and developed beliefs to justify a sense of entitlement to their way of life.
One day, Sniff and Scurry began noticing that slight changes in the maze were multiplying. The corridors that brought skills and material into Cheese Station E and moved product out, once a miracle of efficiency, began slowly tilting against the flow of inputs and outputs. Productivity was in decline, as was the supply of cheese—the prosperity of stable industries.
In fact, Sniff and Scurry noticed changes multiplying across the maze. Some seemingly insignificant changes proved to be weak signals of change coming. Some change came out of nowhere. New corridors emerged, some steep, some dark, and old ones shrank, grew steep, or even sloped down to a sudden cliff.
The mice, being mice, remained vigilant, probing for threats to their well-being and new opportunities to prosper. Many of the little people, fearing the uncertainty, blamed others for the changing maze, expected the government to re-level the corridors back to their favor, and otherwise disregarded the accelerating change to the maze where their livelihood had long been found.
Sniff and Scurry were not surprised when Cheese Station E suddenly stopped producing cheese. They quickly moved on, having been probing the changes to the maze in their trial-and-error way.
Hem and Haw were unprepared. Hem protested, “Who moved my cheese?” Denial turned to anger, as he demanded that someone “make things right again.”
Haw, initially side-by-side with Hem, increasingly thought of the mice, always pioneers, reflecting on the enterprising spirit he once dismissed. But he still felt stuck. Much like America experienced a century ago, uncertainty, anxiety, and fear drove questions and fueled protests. “Why weren’t we warned?” “Why aren’t we prepared?” “Who’s responsible?” Mobs soon surrounded City Hall, until the mayor emerged and pointed her finger down Main Street at the office where decades of economic development strategic plans sat on shelves collecting dust.
The pointing of fingers may soon begin. The future of Cheese Station E is at a turning point, actually unprecedented, due to the never-before-seen rate of technology-driven change to the maze. The many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in “strategic plans” sitting on shelves (no Return On Investment) sit there collecting dust largely because the business model of consultants is incompatible with solving complex challenges.
Lots of data from government websites or other sources made pretty, is largely useless. Given that it is backward-looking, it often fuels biases, false assumptions, and strategic blind spots.
Strategic (enabling) management systems are what is needed. For this, we must start with clarity on the actual living system whose assets, capabilities, and constraints interact to shape outcomes here every day.
What are the enabling and inhibiting factors shaping outcomes, today? What is or is not possible to change today? What is or is not easier to change, today? Where are we vulnerable and where are we feeling the pressure to change today?
Understanding this is what informs us where to start to create the desired outcomes for tomorrow. In other words, given the state of the maze, what could we actually do? What should we do? What will we do? Then, measure progress. Monitor for change. Learn. Adapt. Prosper.
Strategic management is necessarily agile, constantly sensing and making sense of change. Instead of hiring another consultant to “create” (pay them to repurpose) another strategic plan or roadmap—that fails to inform even the first step—we need to start by accepting the fact that five-year plans and roadmaps are only useful when the destination in known; for example specs for roads and bridges are largely known, as well as segments of energy (2030 is 60-80% knowable), automaker supply chains (50-70% knowable), and Healthcare (40-60% knowable). The unknowable percentage is being disrupted by 2030.
Like a century ago, the “pioneers” among us must lead the way. Necessity is the mother of invention. Small (safe-to-fail) experiments (opportunities) emerge out of real understanding of our living ecosystem (especially its constraints)—the maze on which our well-being depends.
Effective experiments are developed into pilots, some of which are developed into new economic assets that establish a competitive advantage for regional industry and workers—a cheese station that adapts to an evolving maze as a feature of its operating system. The challenges are complex. Five-year plans to address “complex” challenges, fail. But the consultant will point his finger at you, “failed execution.” It is a mismatch of a strategic approach.
A complex challenge is when you are building toward an uncertain outcome; critical future specs are unknown, like raising a kid, moving to a new country, launching a new product, or integrating AI into your value chains. This necessarily requires an agile approach and must be developed internally.
A merely complicated challenge is like building a car, requiring special expertise, but you are building something that was designed in the past, can be disassembled and reassembled, and can continue to be what it was designed to be perpetually (being a contained, ordered system)—even if suddenly obsolete.
A social-economic-political-workforce-industrial system is not complicated, it is complex, and, like a teenager, is best developed indirectly by shaping the maze shaping their future.
The complexity we face is made exponential by the added complexity of emerging, cascading, recombining technologies changing everything—whether we like it or not.
A century ago, electricity combined and recombined with steel, petroleum, and the telegraph, to remake society, the economy, and government—our maze. Henry Ford dominated because he led in leveraging four of the five transformational technologies of the day, enabling everything from mass production to vertical integration—and 5X wages. Corporations that did not, fail.
Henry Ford collaborated with other leaders to shape their maze into an ecosystem that enabled adaptation and innovation. Activating an ecosystem takes leadership. “When everybody boosts everybody wins,” repeated Mayor Benjamin Bosse as he rallied
Evansville’s pioneers as they adapted to the Second Industrial Revolution and shaped the maze on which we prospered for generations.
Today, in the near term, AI and automation alone will impact the US manufacturing base at a pace faster than any mass industrial shift in history. The cliff is coming for Hem and Haw. The impact of emerging technologies is hard to imagine given the exponential unknowable
unknowns—and Quantum Computing and Fusion Energy may be around the corner. Decades of transformation comparable to the Second Industrial Revolution may be compressed to years—for the places that survive.
A century ago, it took decades for emerging technologies to affect most Americans. Today, ChatGPT had one million users in 5 days, one hundred million in 2 months, with AI already transforming every industry—whether Hem and Haw are paying attention or not. In Who Moved My Cheese? Haw eventually realizes, “The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.” Strategy is about hard choices. Hem is left to his fate. Like a century ago, we face social, economic, and political disruption. The question is not who moved our cheese, but who is leading our adaptation to the new maze?
Evansville still has opportunities where we can lean in and prosper. Our manufacturing cluster, logistics infrastructure, and healthcare systems can leverage emerging technology to give us an edge—if we act now and “everyone boosts.” Regional leaders must lead by creating the conditions to collaboratively develop new models of workforce re-training, and scaffolding to enable the leveraging of Industry 4.0, AI, blockchain, etc., etc., etc., and ensure that we are ahead of the curve on building the enabling infrastructure.
Chasing what other places did a decade ago will only slow our pace, in the fog, to a sudden cliff. Those ahead of the curve on electricity dominated for a century. It is time to make hard choices before we have no choices to make.
The future belongs, once again, to the pioneers making the most of what the maze affords them. Evansville, who is leading the way?
FOOTNOTE: Jason Salstrom works at the intersection of strategy and technology, helping organizations shape the maze. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsalstrom