Rural Futures with Dr. Connie Bonus Episode

Rural Futures Institute Author

01/16/2019 Added

2 Plays

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Dr. Connie takes the hot seat as Katelyn Ideus interviews her in this special bonus episode of Rural Futures with Dr. Connie.

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[00:00:01.380]Rural Futures, the podcast
[00:00:03.750]where we connect thought leaders
[00:00:05.300]and doers at the intersection of technology
[00:00:08.250]and what it means to be human.
[00:00:10.040]Every episode we talk with entrepreneurs, researchers,
[00:00:13.400]and achievers to create impact for generations to come.
[00:00:18.170]Welcome back to the Rural Futures Podcast.
[00:00:20.750]I'm Katelyn Ideus, Producer of the show
[00:00:23.090]and in today's episode, I'm interviewing our host,
[00:00:26.080]Dr. Connie Reimers-Hild who serves
[00:00:28.150]as Interim Executive Director and Chief Futurist
[00:00:31.130]at the Rural Futures Institute
[00:00:32.608]at the University of Nebraska.
[00:00:35.000]So Dr. Connie, welcome to your own show.
[00:00:37.599]Thanks, Katelyn.
[00:00:38.920]It's kind of fun to be on the other end of the mic.
[00:00:42.010]I feel like I'm on the spot now.
[00:00:44.720]I want to start out by providing our listeners
[00:00:47.700]with a bit of context and background about you.
[00:00:49.940]So can you please share with us that highlight reel
[00:00:53.170]of your personal and professional life
[00:00:55.240]that has led you to this point of leading a major institute
[00:00:58.560]at the University of Nebraska?
[00:01:00.450]Yeah, I'd love to.
[00:01:01.460]You know, I have been at the university for quite some time
[00:01:05.670]and people that have listened
[00:01:07.850]to this know I was first generation college student
[00:01:10.470]who really had no intention
[00:01:12.960]of ever getting a Master's Degree let alone a PhD.
[00:01:17.230]And luckily I had some great mentors
[00:01:19.330]who helped me understand that you could actually get paid
[00:01:21.210]to go to graduate school, didn't know that.
[00:01:23.020]That's the reason my Master's Degree is in entomology
[00:01:26.090]and also then thinking about what that look like next
[00:01:28.757]for me was really important.
[00:01:30.900]You know I really was interested in this science of people
[00:01:34.680]and how people really showed up
[00:01:36.540]and interacted with the world.
[00:01:37.900]So my PhD is in human sciences with a focus on leadership
[00:01:42.410]and really have studied what it means
[00:01:44.640]for people to be entrepreneurial and innovative
[00:01:47.380]before people could actually spell entrepreneurial
[00:01:49.810]which was a long time ago.
[00:01:51.660]You know it used to be like no one was even searching it
[00:01:54.000]before Google, it was crazy.
[00:01:56.150]That's hilarious.
[00:01:57.070]Yeah, I mean it really is kind of a funny thing,
[00:01:58.970]because when my first company actually
[00:02:01.140]was called entrepreneurial you
[00:02:03.640]and I had to switch the name to Wild Innovation
[00:02:06.080]because no one could spell entrepreneurial.
[00:02:08.150]So nobody could find the company,
[00:02:10.071]but you know as a futurist that's what you have
[00:02:12.320]to get pretty comfortable with, I think,
[00:02:14.180]is realizing you're about 10 years ahead.
[00:02:16.910]So after getting my PhD and I actually worked
[00:02:20.310]as a faculty member in the Department of Entomology
[00:02:23.580]here at the University of Nebraska Lincoln
[00:02:25.280]on East Campus before going into extension
[00:02:29.280]where then I worked with businesses,
[00:02:31.770]I worked with communities and I worked with a lot
[00:02:33.730]of entrepreneurs and leaders on personal
[00:02:37.290]and professional development.
[00:02:39.050]I'm a Certified Professional Coach and a Certified Futurist
[00:02:41.940]because those pieces really go together.
[00:02:44.740]It's great to do the strategic course item futuring
[00:02:47.620]with companies or even people as individuals,
[00:02:50.980]but really to change what we need to change,
[00:02:53.330]make the changes we want and desire.
[00:02:56.150]The coaching helps with that piece.
[00:02:58.470]I've been married for, it'll be 20 years this year,
[00:03:01.050]so I'm super jazzed about that.
[00:03:03.069]Congratulations.
[00:03:03.902]Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:04.827]I'm excited.
[00:03:06.550]Wonderful man.
[00:03:07.970]I wasn't older when I got married and had kids.
[00:03:10.817]It was a long betting process for me
[00:03:13.686]in the dating world I would say.
[00:03:16.527]But I still think that's the best advice to give anyone.
[00:03:18.930]You want a great future, find a great partner.
[00:03:22.040]We both have full time careers, have the business,
[00:03:25.050]but we also started out with two weiner dogs
[00:03:27.270]and now I have two kids that are nine and 11
[00:03:30.260]and really have been just the joys of our life
[00:03:33.430]and so you know folding this all together
[00:03:36.510]has been a lot of fun because I think what's happened
[00:03:39.100]is while we talk about the inability to balance.
[00:03:43.490]I think having to do that in real life,
[00:03:46.140]really helps you help leaders better, because you get it.
[00:03:50.580]You're sort of having to figure it out everyday yourself.
[00:03:53.810]You've already brought up futuring and strategic foresight
[00:03:56.540]but we need to dig into this a little bit more
[00:03:58.250]because it's a bit mind boggling
[00:04:00.950]but we still get asked if strategic foresight
[00:04:03.440]is quote a real thing and if a futurist
[00:04:07.090]is something people know about.
[00:04:09.170]But we do get these questions so let's clear it up.
[00:04:11.620]Can you share with us your definition of a futurist?
[00:04:15.620]I can and I will go on record
[00:04:18.590]to say yes, strategic foresight is a discipline.
[00:04:21.860]Other universities and colleges actually teach it.
[00:04:24.767]I'm certified through the University of Houston
[00:04:27.770]and we had Dr. Andy Hines on
[00:04:29.910]who was actually the lead person in that academy.
[00:04:33.290]They teach it on campus, they teach it online,
[00:04:36.000]they have full blown bachelor master degree programs
[00:04:40.350]and many places focused on it.
[00:04:42.720]And that is really important
[00:04:44.400]because really strategic foresight is a discipline
[00:04:46.580]that futurists use to help leaders, people, organizations,
[00:04:52.350]communities really take a look at what's happening.
[00:04:56.620]Not just now, but into the future.
[00:04:58.540]What's possible and what's probable.
[00:05:01.230]And then helping them make decisions, better decisions
[00:05:04.640]so they're better prepared for the future,
[00:05:07.480]but also in a position to create the future that they want.
[00:05:11.550]So talk to us a little bit more about
[00:05:12.918]that program that you went through
[00:05:15.220]at the University of Houston.
[00:05:16.640]What types of people were in your program with you?
[00:05:20.270]It was an amazing program and I had wanted to go through
[00:05:23.230]it for years.
[00:05:24.063]I've been a member of the World Future Society,
[00:05:26.460]presented at that conference, published within that sphere
[00:05:30.100]for quite some time before actually going on
[00:05:33.270]and taking their certificate program.
[00:05:35.060]So there are people from all over the world
[00:05:38.950]and all different industries there.
[00:05:40.510]So you had people from Clorox, Ford,
[00:05:43.350]the United States Library Association, Lowe's,
[00:05:46.660]a lot of these major companies
[00:05:48.900]have really invested in this space realizing
[00:05:52.040]that their business model today isn't going
[00:05:55.290]to propel them into a successful future.
[00:05:58.130]They need to change, but they need to anticipate
[00:06:00.440]what those changes might be to make the right decisions
[00:06:03.810]so that they're innovating in the right way.
[00:06:06.020]I was actually the only person in my class
[00:06:09.060]that was from a university and I found that
[00:06:12.040]to be very interesting considering sort
[00:06:14.690]of the huge transition that universities are in right now
[00:06:18.690]along with retail, healthcare, every other space, right?
[00:06:22.650]You know I was just in Lincoln, Nebraska here.
[00:06:25.290]I tried to go make a return at Sears, they're closing
[00:06:28.550]and it's not like we didn't know this was happening.
[00:06:31.300]A, Sears has talked about this for a long time.
[00:06:34.170]We've seen just the prolific growth of online retail.
[00:06:38.830]Well, why do you need to go to that store anymore?
[00:06:41.720]And so it's really interesting to me the companies
[00:06:44.530]that have chosen to invest in that
[00:06:47.150]and really pivot and evolve and the ones that have not.
[00:06:50.600]Now, I have to ask the classic Dr. Connie question,
[00:06:54.270]what do you do to keep your futurist mind fresh?
[00:06:58.900]You know I love to watch sci-fi movies.
[00:07:01.370]Like I'm a crazy big fan of sci-fi, because,
[00:07:05.270]and I always have been.
[00:07:06.320]I mean I think that's the other thing
[00:07:07.610]about being a futurist.
[00:07:08.750]I've been a futurist since I was pretty young.
[00:07:10.700]I just didn't know what it was at that time.
[00:07:13.050]I could see what was gonna happen
[00:07:14.700]and I could put really odd things together.
[00:07:17.208]It's something that's very natural for me,
[00:07:19.800]but it's hard to always explain and put into words
[00:07:22.720]you know what that looks like for others
[00:07:24.910]and how they can benefit from that knowledge.
[00:07:28.390]And I think it's staying sharp, it's a lot of reading.
[00:07:31.500]I'm a huge learner.
[00:07:33.080]Audio books, especially with all the driving I do.
[00:07:36.190]So I'm also a huge fan of Singularity University.
[00:07:38.640]I just actually finished up some course work
[00:07:41.160]to keep myself fresh last year with that group
[00:07:44.310]and it was all online.
[00:07:45.650]Again, people from all over the world, from all industries.
[00:07:49.510]This time there were some folks from higher education
[00:07:51.640]which was great, but you know, really thinking about
[00:07:54.720]how do we exponentially grow what's happening.
[00:07:58.600]I listen to a lot of podcasts as well
[00:08:00.390]and yesterday I was listening to one that talked about 5G.
[00:08:03.620]Like, what should we expecting with 5G
[00:08:06.410]that we're not doing right now?
[00:08:08.250]And the 5G will be something once people are connected to it
[00:08:13.480]it'll be like what electricity was,
[00:08:15.500]they used the example of what electricity was
[00:08:18.360]to a washing machine.
[00:08:20.230]It was life changing, right?
[00:08:21.583]It's not once piece of clothing anymore,
[00:08:24.380]but it's also we can own a lot more clothes.
[00:08:26.730]We can buy them, we can wash them faster,
[00:08:29.700]we have clothes now for everything.
[00:08:31.940]Yeah, you've already kind of promo-ed
[00:08:33.340]some of the episodes that we've had with Guess.
[00:08:35.690]I mean if this conversation is sparking your curiosity
[00:08:38.330]as a listener, we have more that you can dig into.
[00:08:40.630]So episode eight featured Dr. Andy Hines
[00:08:43.220]who leads the University of Houston's
[00:08:44.760]Strategic Foresight Graduate Certificate Program.
[00:08:47.580]And I'd also suggest episode one with Ryan Alexander,
[00:08:51.160]higher ed futurist.
[00:08:52.690]Episode 13 with Thomas Frey, just prolific leading futurist,
[00:08:57.320]nationally, globally and episode 16 with Deb Westphal
[00:09:01.160]who's the CEO of Toffler Associates.
[00:09:03.520]And we have more coming so in season three.
[00:09:06.320]Just continuing to bring these futurists together
[00:09:09.610]because when you said I bring this disparate ideas together.
[00:09:14.210]Yeah, I mean that's what you've done here
[00:09:15.840]at the World Future's Institute.
[00:09:17.230]Tying rural to strategic foresight
[00:09:20.020]is a completely different conversation than has been had
[00:09:24.930]and I think even talking to these futurists,
[00:09:28.150]they're interested in this too and they're seeing,
[00:09:31.040]wow, yeah we do need to have this conversation
[00:09:33.580]of what the future holds for rural
[00:09:35.570]and then obviously what that means for everyone.
[00:09:38.770]And I think just, you know, having the connection
[00:09:41.610]to other futurists who may be see things differently
[00:09:43.940]than I do or had different experiences,
[00:09:46.810]have worked with different companies
[00:09:48.150]just broadens the perspective of what's possible.
[00:09:52.270]And I think rural is one of those areas that's been sort
[00:09:54.800]of left out of the equation when it comes to futuring,
[00:09:57.530]strategic foresight, technology.
[00:10:00.350]You know when I was recently on a panel in Paris,
[00:10:04.020]the women's conference really focused
[00:10:05.700]on the future of cities.
[00:10:07.430]The reason I was there, because it was because
[00:10:09.880]of our partnership with Microsoft,
[00:10:11.820]but also rural just isn't represented.
[00:10:14.570]They were like we need somebody that has this rural voice
[00:10:17.150]and knowledge to talk about the future of cities,
[00:10:19.940]because I'm like it's not just cities, right?
[00:10:22.020]It is that rural urban connection that's really
[00:10:25.620]what makes the world work.
[00:10:27.620]And sometimes we don't recognize that.
[00:10:29.720]A lot of those fundamental pieces of everything we consume
[00:10:33.650]come from rural areas and even though in many ways
[00:10:37.300]that's getting more automated, in many ways it's also not.
[00:10:40.600]In many ways it's also still hand laborers.
[00:10:43.010]When you think about coffee for example,
[00:10:45.650]chocolate, that is produced in rural areas
[00:10:48.560]and it's produced by people living in those areas
[00:10:52.040]and I think that we forget the human element sometimes
[00:10:55.230]about what are those people doing in their world
[00:10:58.810]that affects our world.
[00:11:00.440]But also the cool innovation and the strength
[00:11:03.460]that our rural people around the world, in the US,
[00:11:07.610]in Nebraska really bring to the table
[00:11:10.630]and what I love about the podcast
[00:11:12.500]and our work at the Rural Future's Institute.
[00:11:14.960]And in particular your work, Katelyn,
[00:11:17.200]I think in the communication space has really lifted up
[00:11:20.910]that voice for rural.
[00:11:22.060]We have more work to do, you know obviously.
[00:11:25.090]Yeah, I mean it's no small job, but it's exciting
[00:11:28.650]to see that now we have actually futurists coming to us
[00:11:31.990]saying hey, can I be part of this conversation?
[00:11:34.700]I really like to contribute my work to this space.
[00:11:38.830]And that's a great, I think that's a great accomplishment,
[00:11:41.800]but I'm also excited to see what that can bring
[00:11:44.560]to our state and beyond.
[00:11:49.040]I want to kinda transition into the future
[00:11:50.770]of the Rural Future's Institute now.
[00:11:52.890]You assumed the Interim Executive Director role at RFI
[00:11:56.780]in July and you've really challenged our team
[00:12:00.190]to narrow our scope and be very focused on the type
[00:12:02.810]of impact we want to make
[00:12:04.130]and you wrote an introductory letter in July
[00:12:07.310]and then you also just had a recent op ed,
[00:12:10.200]both of which are available on our website.
[00:12:12.360]If anyone would like to read them in full,
[00:12:14.580]but can you share with us a bit about your vision
[00:12:17.180]for the institute going forward?
[00:12:19.890]I really like to think about it
[00:12:21.210]through the strategic foresight loans about what's possible,
[00:12:25.540]what's probable and then how can we continue to grow.
[00:12:30.130]But that takes focus.
[00:12:31.570]I mean I think that's where especially in terms
[00:12:34.404]as we have had a large budget cut
[00:12:37.920]and also we've lost quite a bit of capacity
[00:12:40.090]in terms of people.
[00:12:41.490]I think sometimes that has gotten lost a bit
[00:12:44.420]in some of the conversation.
[00:12:46.360]What is it now that we can do?
[00:12:48.680]What can we specialize in and make the wider impact
[00:12:52.750]in Nebraska and the world?
[00:12:54.420]Students have been a huge part of that
[00:12:55.820]and will continue to be a huge part of that
[00:12:59.070]and getting students into communities, our rural communities
[00:13:02.240]with those leaders is a huge contribution we've made
[00:13:05.730]in the past but we've gotta measure the impact of that
[00:13:08.610]and continue to think about how do we partner
[00:13:10.900]and scale that up and change it in the future.
[00:13:13.720]And really as we've developed this nexus,
[00:13:16.980]what we call the Rural Future's Nexus
[00:13:18.720]of students, communities, and faculty coming together
[00:13:22.410]making sure we're bringing those pieces together
[00:13:25.020]in a thoughtful way to elevate what's happening
[00:13:28.430]in those communities.
[00:13:29.410]So taking what's happening at the university,
[00:13:33.020]connecting it with communities, but also what's happening
[00:13:35.490]in communities and connecting that back to the university.
[00:13:37.790]So that the university very much knows
[00:13:41.030]the innovation happening there,
[00:13:42.350]but also what we should be doing here at the university
[00:13:45.350]to help those communities.
[00:13:48.560]We are also quite proud of the Rural Future's Institute's
[00:13:51.230]Student Serviceship Program that was developed
[00:13:53.280]by University of Nebraska faculty in 2013
[00:13:55.990]through RFI funding.
[00:13:57.500]It has continued every year and grown in scope
[00:13:59.740]placing 60 some students in 30 some rural communities
[00:14:02.630]to work, serve, and live.
[00:14:04.310]And last year we had our largest class
[00:14:06.210]of students serving 11 communities.
[00:14:08.340]Two of which were broader communities of practice.
[00:14:10.640]So that was an exciting evolution of the program.
[00:14:13.350]Without giving too much away,
[00:14:14.580]can you share with our listeners the evolution
[00:14:16.510]of the program we have been working on this past six months?
[00:14:19.880]We're working on kind of pivoting
[00:14:21.980]what we've called our Rural Serviceship Program a bit.
[00:14:25.110]I'd love for that to come out as more of a fellows approach
[00:14:30.050]with students in those communities
[00:14:31.810]and with our community leaders for the student piece
[00:14:35.080]and the community piece and the university piece,
[00:14:37.480]we've really looked at inclusion
[00:14:38.880]through Dr. Helen Fagan's work of becoming a part that.
[00:14:42.790]You know, can that theoretical foundation
[00:14:45.092]of inclusion then lead to more economic impact workforce
[00:14:50.090]development greater good for those communities
[00:14:53.450]in terms of well being.
[00:14:55.020]But also let's bring the strategic foresight in with it
[00:14:59.050]in the communications piece with it.
[00:15:00.930]So Singularity University, who I just talked about,
[00:15:04.380]when I took my courses there last
[00:15:06.530]for professional development last year,
[00:15:08.280]communications was a huge part of that.
[00:15:10.670]Because it's not enough to just have the foresight,
[00:15:14.600]you need the action but you also need to communicate
[00:15:17.700]the difference it's making and where you intend to go.
[00:15:20.500]And that's what we're working on here
[00:15:22.380]at the Rural Future's Institute.
[00:15:26.610]Okay so let's get specific too
[00:15:28.630]on the Nebraska Thriving Index
[00:15:30.740]so this a print and online tool that we'll be rolling out
[00:15:33.880]in the summer that will provide economic developers,
[00:15:36.910]local elected officials and community leaders
[00:15:39.070]with economic and quality of life indicators
[00:15:41.640]to identify thriving and lagging regions.
[00:15:44.440]And the point of this is that with that information,
[00:15:47.630]that's really comparing them to comparable peers.
[00:15:51.760]They can make some strategic future focused investments.
[00:15:55.320]So what was the inspiration behind this project
[00:15:58.570]and how did it come to be the partners involved?
[00:16:00.870]I'm really excited about the Thriving Index.
[00:16:03.175]We started seeing these barometers
[00:16:05.990]for Omaha, and Lincoln here in Nebraska
[00:16:08.520]and also sister cities to Lincoln and Omaha.
[00:16:11.770]And Dr. Eric Thompson at the University of Nebraska,
[00:16:15.160]Lincoln's Bureau of Business Research,
[00:16:17.330]they are the ones that have led these types
[00:16:19.860]of measures of Lincoln and Omaha.
[00:16:23.150]And so as we started to look at them,
[00:16:24.892]now they have five years of data
[00:16:27.022]and they use these a lot of times in economic development
[00:16:30.760]to attract new companies or even use just to say,
[00:16:35.050]here's where we're at, here's where we're doing well,
[00:16:37.830]here's where we need to put some resources.
[00:16:40.760]They really use it I think in many ways
[00:16:43.160]to help form their future and a lot of the decisions
[00:16:45.640]around that and we didn't have anything for rural
[00:16:49.140]that resembled that and so we talked with Eric
[00:16:52.330]and he has a team.
[00:16:53.580]Also Dr. Bre Doherty at the University of Nebraska
[00:16:56.440]at Kearney who's really helped us form this up
[00:16:58.404]and think through this and then we worked with a number
[00:17:01.460]of partners through the community vitality initiative
[00:17:04.380]and the Nebraska extension and there's a whole team involved
[00:17:07.690]and you can find that information on our website as well.
[00:17:11.030]But to look at the landscape in rural.
[00:17:13.900]So the economic aspects of it, but also overall well being.
[00:17:18.580]Because what we do know is that population
[00:17:21.450]can't be the metric, right?
[00:17:23.790]So we get charged with this a lot and people ask us
[00:17:26.480]well how are you gonna change the trajectory
[00:17:28.660]of rural Nebraska?
[00:17:30.156]You know what, that's a very complicated question
[00:17:33.350]and I get the intent of the question.
[00:17:35.440]The population is incredibly important in the attraction
[00:17:37.970]and retention of people, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:17:40.410]But it's way more complicated than just using population
[00:17:43.290]as a metric.
[00:17:44.440]What we do know, is that the quality of life,
[00:17:47.260]especially in places like rural Nebraska is good,
[00:17:50.730]but we don't know how good, how great.
[00:17:53.380]We don't know what's thriving and what's not thriving
[00:17:56.890]necessarily in those areas and a lot of it is very regional
[00:18:00.700]not just a specific community.
[00:18:03.180]And so the index will really help display this in regions.
[00:18:07.290]And it'll be a tool that people can actually use
[00:18:09.610]and it'll be great to get some initial data put together,
[00:18:12.980]an initial tool put together that people can take a look at
[00:18:16.350]to assess their region compare it to other regions.
[00:18:19.670]But the long term goal would be that this index
[00:18:22.400]will occur over time and so we can start seeing those trends
[00:18:26.130]over time, we can start seeing what needs additional help
[00:18:30.940]or where places are thriving.
[00:18:33.680]And then also if we can expand that to other states,
[00:18:36.548]how does Nebraska compare?
[00:18:39.580]And what can we do about it?
[00:18:40.996]I mean I think that's the other thing as a university too
[00:18:43.410]is for us to have this information to say hey,
[00:18:46.480]this is where we're making a contribution,
[00:18:48.402]but this is where we could do more.
[00:18:53.610]So, you hold your doctorate in leadership
[00:18:56.190]as you've shared and in episode 10 of this show,
[00:18:59.190]you shared your definition of leadership
[00:19:01.010]and you said, "It is the ability to lead one's own life
[00:19:04.027]"while bringing out the best in others
[00:19:05.727]"and making a positive contribution to the future."
[00:19:09.010]You went on to say, "I believe in champion the concept
[00:19:11.887]"of self-leadership.
[00:19:13.037]"Don't let others lead you where you don't want to go.
[00:19:15.807]"We must recognize and develop our inner leaders
[00:19:18.197]"to truly thrive."
[00:19:19.610]And that episode aired on August 3rd, one month
[00:19:21.866]in to your leadership role here at RFI.
[00:19:25.690]So what have you learned since then?
[00:19:28.430]For me that still holds true.
[00:19:30.410]My whole coaching philosophy and model
[00:19:32.760]is built on developing your inner leader.
[00:19:35.570]I'm really not a big fan of one person having a giant vision
[00:19:40.630]and everybody else get on board and go towards it.
[00:19:44.510]I think that worked in the Industrial Era.
[00:19:46.740]It does not work in the current era that we are in
[00:19:50.320]and I think it holds true even more so for me today
[00:19:53.660]than it did even a few months ago.
[00:19:56.190]And I've been in leadership roles before
[00:19:58.820]at the Kimmel Education and Research Center for example.
[00:20:01.340]Other places that I've been, this is a little different
[00:20:04.660]in that it's a higher level within the university
[00:20:07.210]but it also we have a very small team.
[00:20:09.580]And for me, that means that I need people on our team
[00:20:13.310]to really embrace that inner leader.
[00:20:16.200]I can't afford to micromanage anyone
[00:20:18.570]and I'm not even good at it, but I also think this
[00:20:21.890]is what's important in those communities.
[00:20:23.520]It's important to the faculty and staff
[00:20:26.270]that we work with here.
[00:20:27.910]We need to bring the best out in everybody
[00:20:30.720]and that's really as leaders I feel like
[00:20:33.000]that's part of the role, right?
[00:20:34.840]It's not just assigning tasks and delegating.
[00:20:37.670]You know, that's management but leadership requires a little
[00:20:40.110]more than that and I think in many ways,
[00:20:42.690]after going through a difficult situation you know
[00:20:45.270]like we have here at the Rural Future's Institute
[00:20:47.360]or many of our communities have gone through.
[00:20:50.020]It's coming out of that sort of like the phoenix.
[00:20:52.971](laughing)
[00:20:54.297]You know, and flying again.
[00:20:56.230]You know that's kind of how I see it
[00:20:58.190]is you're gonna go through those difficult times
[00:21:01.500]and it's the what have you learned
[00:21:03.370]and how did it make you stronger?
[00:21:04.969]And I think that's kind of where I'm at at this point
[00:21:09.460]with a lot of things and even our interview
[00:21:11.350]with Dr. Howard Liu from the med center.
[00:21:13.510]We touched a lot on this result.
[00:21:14.710]Yeah there's a lot of mental and spiritual
[00:21:17.780]and physical capacity that has to go in that
[00:21:20.200]and I think that's all part of that inner leader, right?
[00:21:22.600]And shift gears when you need to.
[00:21:24.820]I mean we had to make some hard decisions.
[00:21:27.110]We had to pass things like bit Connecting Young Nebraskan.
[00:21:31.570]CYN program that's amazing and I think there's
[00:21:35.050]such a great group of young leaders around our state
[00:21:37.300]but you know what our partners
[00:21:39.320]at the Nebraska Community Foundation
[00:21:41.080]can do wonderful things with that.
[00:21:43.120]And rather than just cut it and see it die,
[00:21:45.460]we really wanted to trim it from our branches
[00:21:49.120]but see it grow and I think that's the part of leadership
[00:21:52.380]that sometimes gets a little difficult
[00:21:54.480]and people can get a little judgemental around it,
[00:21:57.400]but you know for us to grow and for us to help serve people
[00:22:01.180]in a better way we have to be good at who we are
[00:22:04.570]and good with who we are, we have to lead who we are
[00:22:08.800]and show up in our authentic way.
[00:22:11.270]Some of these things we have to let go of
[00:22:13.110]and let loss and beyond who we are here
[00:22:15.650]at the Rural Future's Institute.
[00:22:20.090]Okay, so to say that fall 2018 was a whirlwind,
[00:22:24.950]is a little bit of an understatement.
[00:22:26.960]Where all did you go?
[00:22:28.420]I'm trying to remember, you know, 'cause it was,
[00:22:30.750]it got to be a blur because Japan and Paris
[00:22:33.020]were the big international trips.
[00:22:34.870]But I made several trips out to Kearney
[00:22:36.960]and went to Ohio as well.
[00:22:39.490]Yeah, I mean and I was feeling that.
[00:22:41.950]I was gettin' a little tired there by the end.
[00:22:44.080]I mean it was great because I think we know
[00:22:46.140]that the demand for the work we're doing here
[00:22:48.810]and for the partnerships we've created is growing
[00:22:52.070]and that's great to see.
[00:22:53.710]And now it's like again how do we continue to grow
[00:22:56.490]and thrive ourselves through this so that we can continue
[00:22:59.490]to serve in a prolific way, but yeah.
[00:23:01.940]Was in Ohio working with some agricultural leaders
[00:23:05.159]and connecting with them around the rural future
[00:23:08.950]and their own business future.
[00:23:10.660]The agricultural landscape is changing at a very rapid clip.
[00:23:15.440]How do they as leaders continue to evolve and change
[00:23:19.070]and how can we connect with them here at the institute?
[00:23:21.490]That's really important.
[00:23:23.270]And then I was in Kearney.
[00:23:24.870]I worked with the Nebraska Rural Health Association,
[00:23:27.660]key noted their annual conference but also connected
[00:23:30.840]with some great leaders that attended that conference.
[00:23:33.650]They're very excited to continue to work in that space.
[00:23:37.170]And then 10 days in Japan as part of a partnership we have
[00:23:41.740]with the Japan Society
[00:23:43.860]and this has been a great relationship
[00:23:45.830]that's been ongoing, a project that's been ongoing.
[00:23:48.650]We hosted a number of Japanese leaders here last year
[00:23:52.350]in 2017, then the exchange was to take US leaders to Japan.
[00:23:57.210]I was one of those leaders that was selected
[00:23:59.470]from the US to go and learn about what's happening there.
[00:24:03.260]What you learn is that a lot of what's happening there
[00:24:05.410]is happening here.
[00:24:06.450]I mean this whole rural conversation is
[00:24:09.350]while we focus or wanna focus our impact in Nebraska,
[00:24:12.950]there's a whole national and international need
[00:24:16.140]for us to all come together around this
[00:24:17.940]and find some really bold innovative solutions
[00:24:20.580]to what's happening
[00:24:21.980]and capture the creativity already happening.
[00:24:25.090]And after that, eight days later that I was flying
[00:24:28.600]into Paris to present at an international women's forum
[00:24:32.150]really focused on how do we help empower women
[00:24:36.020]to create a better future.
[00:24:37.450]And again, that was part of our relationship
[00:24:39.980]with Microsoft so a lot of the relationships that we've had
[00:24:44.150]and have been forming are really starting to grow
[00:24:47.190]and we wanna see more happen from that.
[00:24:49.180]And we want rural to be at the table.
[00:24:51.477]Aging is a huge issue in both the area of the women
[00:24:55.600]in empowerment, but also in places like Japan.
[00:24:58.090]And this aging is a global issue that we see especially
[00:25:01.760]in our rural areas and so I think just the learnings
[00:25:05.140]from some of that have been huge
[00:25:07.070]and I've been able to bring a lot of that back to Nebraska
[00:25:09.610]which is great.
[00:25:11.160]So let's dig into Japan a little bit more.
[00:25:13.200]It is an acute example of hyper urbanization
[00:25:15.890]so until the early 2000s, you know,
[00:25:18.300]globally more people lived in villages and small towns
[00:25:20.700]than cities but population in large cities continues to rise
[00:25:24.900]while the opposite is true in rural areas.
[00:25:27.530]This is especially true in Japan.
[00:25:29.740]People are leaving their rural homes to go to Tokyo
[00:25:33.100]for example and today 92%
[00:25:35.750]of the Japanese live in large cities.
[00:25:38.250]And it's causing an influx of abandoned land
[00:25:41.300]throughout the rural areas of the country
[00:25:43.920]and also just some concern.
[00:25:45.930]I mean, I've read articles on the millennial generation
[00:25:48.770]is really concerned about their responsibility.
[00:25:51.430]I mean some of these rural communities are 1,000 years old
[00:25:54.280]in Japan and it's gonna be under their watch that they die.
[00:25:58.530]You know, I mean this is really kind of an issue.
[00:26:00.610]So you wrote a paper for the Japan Society
[00:26:03.570]and that will be published soon through them,
[00:26:06.240]but tell us about our key observations that you kind
[00:26:08.780]of wrote about in that paper.
[00:26:11.400]Yeah so one of the areas that I wanted to really examine
[00:26:15.320]while I was there is this issue of gender inequity,
[00:26:18.810]because it's a pretty big one.
[00:26:20.770]And it's a big one in rural areas in Nebraska.
[00:26:23.660]We've heard that through our rural forums
[00:26:26.420]that we need to empower people and be more inclusive
[00:26:30.360]in our leadership but that includes gender
[00:26:32.370]as a huge part of that.
[00:26:34.260]You know one of my take aways was
[00:26:35.630]that women need representation, their own voice
[00:26:38.660]and economic independence in Japan.
[00:26:41.250]And that is especially true in the rural areas.
[00:26:44.990]Many times even at meetings,
[00:26:47.470]men are still speaking for women.
[00:26:49.030]We see that here.
[00:26:49.863]I see that.
[00:26:50.696]Geez, even as the Executive Director for a major institute
[00:26:53.790]that still happens and I find myself
[00:26:55.470]having to interrupt people
[00:26:57.370]or just keep talking through talk
[00:27:00.170]to interrupt me at a table.
[00:27:01.610]It drives me crazy, but it still happens
[00:27:04.400]and so this is just, it's a problem.
[00:27:08.100]A cultural problem, globally.
[00:27:10.330]That also the Japanese relationship with food
[00:27:13.090]is very unique and I think it has the potential
[00:27:16.650]to drive a larger share of their economy
[00:27:18.996]that I think there's a lot we could learn from them
[00:27:22.630]around the connection with food and agriculture
[00:27:25.550]and the way that it's so beautifully represented.
[00:27:29.060]They have like fan clubs for their rice and their fish.
[00:27:34.180]People in urban areas that are selling their products
[00:27:37.410]for them and doing social media for them
[00:27:40.610]and really have actually become fans
[00:27:42.830]of how the food is produced.
[00:27:44.420]They also have things like rice compacts
[00:27:46.550]where they actually will contract
[00:27:49.400]with people living in places like Tokyo
[00:27:52.130]to buy rice from rural areas and then
[00:27:54.840]in case something bad in Tokyo, like you know,
[00:27:58.020]tsunami, they can actually move and go stay
[00:28:01.010]at those rural areas and have a safe place to live.
[00:28:03.870]I just think those are so creative
[00:28:05.800]to how to engage people in rural areas
[00:28:07.760]even if they don't physically live there.
[00:28:10.000]And also Japan's population appears to be less dependent
[00:28:13.440]on traditional healthcare and more focused on health.
[00:28:17.160]I think this was especially prevalent as I,
[00:28:19.890]I actually was involved in a tea party
[00:28:22.660]with elderly ladies in a rural village
[00:28:25.170]and the thing that it really showed me
[00:28:27.240]was these women have chosen to get together.
[00:28:30.610]They've chosen to get together because it helps them get
[00:28:33.560]out of their houses and to create that social bond they need
[00:28:37.810]for their health and their well being.
[00:28:40.290]You know once a week, but they have fun.
[00:28:42.460]I mean they're having great food, it's home made food,
[00:28:45.810]very healthy food, green and black tea,
[00:28:50.130]and they're laughing, but it's also just a great example
[00:28:53.410]of people taking ownership and that inner leadership
[00:28:56.870]of how do I want to experience this life.
[00:29:01.260]Now I also want to go back
[00:29:02.160]to the women's forum global conference.
[00:29:04.440]So, correct me if I'm wrong
[00:29:05.840]but were you the only rural perspective person there?
[00:29:09.720]Was there anybody else?
[00:29:11.690]Nobody else that I know of, no.
[00:29:14.002]I was pretty much it and I think the great thing
[00:29:17.180]is that after that conference then I was contacted
[00:29:19.810]by other conferences, global conferences
[00:29:22.530]to bring in this rural perspective.
[00:29:24.920]You know because people just, they're curious,
[00:29:27.440]but they don't know.
[00:29:28.950]Right, right.
[00:29:30.120]So with that kind of influential platform
[00:29:32.240]with leaders from across corporations, governments,
[00:29:35.000]non-profits, what calls to action did you share
[00:29:37.890]with this opportunity?
[00:29:40.110]Well one, we need to plan for both under population,
[00:29:43.140]and over population in physical communities.
[00:29:46.570]There is an absolute interconnectedness between urban
[00:29:49.880]and rural that we can no longer ignore.
[00:29:51.820]And our global ecosystem must support more than just people.
[00:29:55.940]As we move forward with the Rural Future's Institute,
[00:29:58.150]one of the things we've really focused on
[00:30:00.120]is the rural urban collaboration, not divide.
[00:30:04.500]We talked about this with Dr. Tim Griffin
[00:30:06.500]from Tufts University.
[00:30:07.702]You know we really need to ask better questions
[00:30:10.330]and do better research around this,
[00:30:11.960]because too often we're focused on the divide
[00:30:15.400]and not on interconnectedness.
[00:30:17.470]And we need to understand that more I think
[00:30:19.420]so people value both rural and urban in a different way.
[00:30:23.150]A number two is that we need to provide access
[00:30:25.170]to health, well being and vitality for all.
[00:30:27.940]You know what does it really look like
[00:30:29.370]for every person on the planet to have great places
[00:30:31.680]to live, clean water, sanitation, transportation,
[00:30:34.960]sustainable energy, activity and proper nutrition.
[00:30:38.710]And how do we provide access to health,
[00:30:40.830]well being, and vitality for all people in the future?
[00:30:43.660]This was a big focus
[00:30:45.040]of the Singularity University course work that I took.
[00:30:47.820]I mean we can start thinking about these things now,
[00:30:50.810]because not only do we have the technology,
[00:30:53.140]but we have the science and I think we have the will
[00:30:56.650]of many people to try and figure out answers
[00:30:59.130]to these big questions.
[00:31:01.300]Number three, advancements in technology and science
[00:31:03.900]are changing expectations and demands of humans.
[00:31:07.140]You know we have demographic shifts
[00:31:08.630]and that's recognized, but we have psychographic shifts
[00:31:11.390]as well and sometimes that is unrecognized.
[00:31:14.320]For example, I just expect that I can order something
[00:31:17.350]on my phone and it's there about the next day or two days
[00:31:20.570]and I live in a rural area.
[00:31:22.937]As you're more remote and rural I know
[00:31:24.940]that might be a little bit different and I get it,
[00:31:27.300]but this will continue to change, right?
[00:31:29.630]I mean, so as we have for example more 3D printing
[00:31:33.460]in the future we don't even have to order,
[00:31:35.520]we can just print it in our home.
[00:31:37.470]But we need to be connected in order to do that.
[00:31:40.400]And so when you think about the internet of things,
[00:31:43.080]artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile technologies,
[00:31:46.780]intelligent transportation.
[00:31:48.820]These are interwoven factors that are happening
[00:31:51.970]that we can really I think embrace in rural if we want to,
[00:31:56.290]but also we can lead the way in rural if we want to.
[00:31:59.470]So when I think about autonomous vehicles
[00:32:01.730]in our aging population, and the need for people
[00:32:04.980]to get to still a healthcare facility,
[00:32:07.890]why not create the intersection of that
[00:32:11.260]and let us be the place where places like Tesla,
[00:32:15.260]Microsoft, et cetera come and do some research.
[00:32:19.720]Yes, please Google.
[00:32:21.420]Let's see what we can do.
[00:32:23.260]But that gets really to the fourth point
[00:32:24.950]of broadband and high speed connectivity
[00:32:27.150]which will be critical components of future communities
[00:32:29.590]both physically and digitally.
[00:32:32.040]You know this requires a systems approach to infrastructure.
[00:32:35.290]How many physical structures
[00:32:36.550]do we really need at this point?
[00:32:37.900]Again, we see a lot of these physical stores closing,
[00:32:41.350]because you know what?
[00:32:42.183]You just simply don't need to go there
[00:32:43.940]and honestly for people like me and many others,
[00:32:47.200]shopping is not really that exciting
[00:32:49.230]and if you don't find what you want at the price you want,
[00:32:51.499]with all the selection that you can get on your phone
[00:32:54.180]or on your computer, why are you there?
[00:32:56.300]I mean if it's not an experience of some sort,
[00:32:58.270]people aren't gonna do it.
[00:32:59.980]So should more of this money be invested
[00:33:02.020]in virtual opportunities?
[00:33:06.350]Kind of one of the last things I want to hit on
[00:33:08.110]is just the insights we've had
[00:33:09.360]from doing this podcast so far.
[00:33:10.780]So we've had 20 episodes and we're definitely seeing
[00:33:13.840]some themes emerge.
[00:33:15.090]We published a white paper about season one
[00:33:17.170]entitled The Future of Leadership Technology
[00:33:19.380]and Rural Urban Collaboration
[00:33:20.920]which is available at ruralfutures.nebraska.edu/podcast.
[00:33:25.730]But season two added some more specifics
[00:33:27.710]to these main themes.
[00:33:29.070]What stood out most to you?
[00:33:31.230]Well I think the fact that there's a lot
[00:33:33.330]of great stories out there and there are stories to tell
[00:33:35.970]and we need to tell them well.
[00:33:38.030]But we also need to understand the elements of those stories
[00:33:41.820]and how they can be replicated beyond that example.
[00:33:45.910]When you think about Handlebend in O'Nneill, Nebraska,
[00:33:49.530]two young guys who decided to create copper mugs
[00:33:53.310]from copper in one of their dad's shops,
[00:33:55.730]because he works in refrigeration
[00:33:57.440]and now turning that into a business
[00:33:59.300]and their website is so amazing.
[00:34:01.090]But not only that, I mean they are engaging the community.
[00:34:05.150]They're hiring people.
[00:34:06.800]The community's been a huge part of their success
[00:34:09.150]and they're telling about that and the importance of that.
[00:34:12.540]They're also not shy about saying
[00:34:14.100]that they've needed the internet.
[00:34:15.770]You know, they wanna empower more women
[00:34:17.900]to work with their company and help them grow
[00:34:21.130]and I think that's really such a great story,
[00:34:24.250]but what are the lessons and how can others learn
[00:34:26.890]and be successful with that same sort of model?
[00:34:29.840]You know empowering women as I've talked about,
[00:34:32.040]is so critical if we want communities to thrive,
[00:34:35.030]women have to thrive as well,
[00:34:36.750]because they give back to their families and communities.
[00:34:39.910]But also, we've really noticed that a lot of people don't
[00:34:42.270]choose to define themselves as a leader.
[00:34:44.140]It's like they're scared to say yeah, I'm a leader.
[00:34:46.600]But I think in some ways that's because there's still
[00:34:49.170]this old sort of idea that the leaders
[00:34:52.157]and CEO in a corner office can be a bit of a jerk, right?
[00:34:56.330]That just tells everybody what to do.
[00:34:58.490]And so I think as we sort of continue to evolve
[00:35:02.200]to self leadership and people wanting to take control
[00:35:05.780]and empower their own future, I think that will change.
[00:35:10.160]And we've always kind of acknowledged that.
[00:35:11.990]That people don't self define as a leader,
[00:35:14.480]but the types of people we're bringing on this show
[00:35:16.580]and they're looking at our preform and they're like,
[00:35:19.960]well I don't know that I should have an opinion
[00:35:21.850]on leadership style and you're just so surprised
[00:35:24.920]to hear them say that.
[00:35:25.753]It's like, look at what you're doing.
[00:35:27.780]Look at how you've brought people together
[00:35:29.430]around your ideas or look at the type of thought leader.
[00:35:32.130]So I just, that one has stood out to me too.
[00:35:34.610]Okay so obviously we're really excited for season three
[00:35:37.390]which will debut in February.
[00:35:39.400]We've got a bunch of interviews scheduled for this month
[00:35:42.560]and they'll be with futurist researchers
[00:35:44.012]and rural mavericks still, but can you talk about a few
[00:35:47.390]of the topics that we're really eager to address?
[00:35:51.050]Yeah, technology will continue to be a huge theme.
[00:35:53.730]I think that's just from basic access
[00:35:55.814]with broadband to wearables to even what's gonna emerge
[00:35:59.210]in the 5G economy and what's gonna be enabled through that.
[00:36:03.770]Continue to focus on some population demographic shifts.
[00:36:07.210]Not just that it's happening, but what the implications are
[00:36:10.350]for the future are also very important.
[00:36:12.650]And then entrepreneurship at a global level
[00:36:15.190]so in Japan entrepreneurship is becoming more important.
[00:36:18.350]It hasn't been part of their culture necessarily.
[00:36:21.060]You know we're gonna engage leaders in Australia
[00:36:23.700]around this conversation,
[00:36:25.159]because this is economic development in rural.
[00:36:28.040]It is entrepreneurship.
[00:36:29.090]It's not gonna be a traditional employer.
[00:36:31.160]It's not even gonna be traditional full time work.
[00:36:33.233]It's gonna be the gig economy,
[00:36:35.120]it's gonna be entrepreneurship,
[00:36:36.410]and it's gonna be innovation.
[00:36:37.890]Love it.
[00:36:41.290]Okay so to wrap up, I think if all the other guests
[00:36:43.850]think I missed an opportunity.
[00:36:45.630]If I didn't ask you some of the questions that you ask them,
[00:36:48.170]that make them go, oh.
[00:36:50.940](laughing)
[00:36:52.660]And so there's two of those.
[00:36:53.810]First, which I think should be maybe our warm up
[00:36:56.250]for season three is like
[00:36:57.330]what does the future's hat look like?
[00:36:59.290]Because that's very interesting.
[00:37:01.200]I always kind of picture it as like the sci-fi type
[00:37:04.260]of like stuff coming out of it.
[00:37:06.840]To me it's like that cone shaped wizard hat
[00:37:09.070]with some sparkly stars and stuff.
[00:37:11.817]And I know the students have even
[00:37:14.330]some more interesting ideas.
[00:37:15.530]That is still a contest.
[00:37:17.040]What's the contest?
[00:37:17.873]Who can come up with the best futurist hat.
[00:37:21.890]But anyways, okay I digress,
[00:37:23.280]but so with your futurist hat on,
[00:37:25.840]what are some of the key mega trends
[00:37:28.950]that you want to make sure people understand
[00:37:30.760]are impacting our rural urban future
[00:37:32.910]and that we should really be preparing for?
[00:37:34.970]I think the technology and science piece, of course.
[00:37:37.786]And the continued advancement in that,
[00:37:40.360]but I think sort of the evolution or community as well.
[00:37:44.710]We have a lot of our basic needs met.
[00:37:46.900]We'll continue to work on that in many places
[00:37:48.850]around the world, but then what comes next?
[00:37:51.220]What comes next if people aren't working full time?
[00:37:54.300]What comes next if people are wanting to feel more fulfilled
[00:37:58.840]and be healthier and more vital and we need them to do that?
[00:38:03.030]And how do we piece this together
[00:38:04.980]and how do we do this globally?
[00:38:07.010]Because I think some of the other interesting conversations
[00:38:09.580]we'll have are outside of humanity.
[00:38:11.610]How is all this effecting wildlife?
[00:38:14.340]Ocean populations, flora and fauna.
[00:38:17.270]I think there's a national resources piece
[00:38:19.440]that'll continue to grow especially
[00:38:22.230]as a potential growing population consumes more.
[00:38:26.130]So the last question that makes people sigh
[00:38:29.410]or just flat out say, I shouldn't answer that
[00:38:32.130]is parting words of wisdom.
[00:38:35.220]Well I think you know parting words of wisdom
[00:38:38.100]for me would be for people to continue
[00:38:41.300]to create their own future and really look
[00:38:44.340]at their life through the lens of a futurist.
[00:38:47.650]So as we see dynamic shifts
[00:38:50.180]in terms of employment opportunities that go away,
[00:38:54.170]we're gonna see new ones emerge.
[00:38:56.120]So what does that look like for you?
[00:38:57.700]How can you tap into your strengths
[00:38:59.810]and creative strengths based future for yourself?
[00:39:03.200]That then impacts your community, but also the world.
[00:39:06.670]But I wanna throw that back to you also, Katelyn.
[00:39:09.840]What are your words of wisdom that you'd like
[00:39:11.830]to leave our audience with?
[00:39:13.450]They all map to essentialism.
[00:39:14.920]So everyone, if you have not read that book,
[00:39:16.790]you need to do so immediately.
[00:39:18.001]A lot of what you have mentored me with
[00:39:20.340]which is exactly what you said.
[00:39:21.720]What future do you want?
[00:39:23.070]You need to know what your desire is and go for that
[00:39:26.280]and so I think that has resonated with me a ton
[00:39:29.330]and I've really put some thought into it
[00:39:31.040]and it's hard sometimes.
[00:39:32.840]But my parting words of wisdom today would be,
[00:39:35.104]done is better than perfect and this podcast
[00:39:38.420]is such a great example of that.
[00:39:40.180]If I had waited for our concept to be absolute perfect,
[00:39:43.830]we wouldn't have launched yet,
[00:39:45.360]and we wouldn't be sitting here and have pulled together
[00:39:48.260]such an incredible group of people.
[00:39:50.550]So thank you to each and every one of our guests
[00:39:52.620]who have made this dream not just a reality,
[00:39:54.590]but just plain fun.
[00:39:55.730]I mean these people just are a pleasure to talk with
[00:39:58.650]and I just also want to take a moment to thank everyone
[00:40:00.990]who is listening because we can more than justify continuing
[00:40:04.199]this show, we have listeners from 45 of 50 states,
[00:40:08.780]represented in our listenership,
[00:40:10.750]which obviously the competitive person me
[00:40:13.310]is going to call out hey Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
[00:40:16.210]Delaware and New Hampshire.
[00:40:17.770]Y'all need to get on board, so there might be some targeting
[00:40:20.311]to those just so we can round up to 50,
[00:40:23.370]but those are my parting words of wisdom, Connie.
[00:40:26.580]I agree.
[00:40:27.413]Essentialism is awesome, but yeah.
[00:40:29.420]Let's get those last five states
[00:40:31.230]and we know you're out there, rural.
[00:40:33.340]We know, I've met people from rural Alaska,
[00:40:35.750]Arkansas, especially those two states
[00:40:38.652]that are doing some amazing things.
[00:40:40.117]Well, and our listeners are definitely not just rural.
[00:40:42.610]I'm seeing a lot of Chicago, Austin,
[00:40:45.520]San Diego so I mean I know it's really cool
[00:40:50.010]to see such a good mix, but obviously Nebraska
[00:40:53.550]is comin' in strong and we really appreciate that.
[00:40:56.170]Yeah, thank you Nebraska.
[00:40:57.390]We love it.
[00:40:58.270]Alright, hey Connie.
[00:40:59.820]Thanks for coming on your own show.
[00:41:02.025]Well hey, Katelyn.
[00:41:03.424]Thanks for interviewing me and putting me on a hot seat.
[00:41:09.120]Thanks for listening to the Rural Future's Podcast.
[00:41:11.900]You can find us on social media at Rural Futures
[00:41:14.950]and we hope you will share our show with your networks
[00:41:17.540]to raise awareness and bold thinking for rural areas
[00:41:20.580]across the country.

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Rural Futures with Dr. Connie Bonus Episode

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