Bill Norton, Norton Asset Management

As Christmas approaches, my business partners and I sit down to review our “pipeline” and current clients. We say that we look to “fire ourselves” from 15% of our clients each year. We have an extensive advisory/counseling business and the goal of the consultant is to solve the client’s problems and move on. Some clients get there on their own while others need a nudge. But more importantly, this provides us an opportunity to set priorities and focus for the coming year. It takes time to do this right, but it gives us a big leg up on the coming year.

I have been reading two terrific books: A History of Future Cities by Daniel Brook, an excellent history of St Petersburg, Shanghai, Bombay and Dubai. Brook writes extremely well, and the book was very informative about both the growth and development of these cities, as well as the history and politics that shaped their growth. It is well worth reading. The second book is Good Work by E.F. Shumacher, author of Small is Beautiful. Schumacher, a 1960s and ’70s economist in England.  Another terrific read, the central theme is that we (all nations and economies) need to reconfigure our work to smaller, manageable units that engage all workers with a meaningful and positive experience, not just a paycheck. Hypertherm is one business that seems to be doing that.

While I write often about commercial real estate in New Hampshire and the built environment, it is the underlying economy that drives our economic health and sustainability. I recount frequently that New Hampshire (and New England) have evolved through a series of economic booms. It started in New Hampshire with the King’s Forest, where masts for ships were cut (along with other timbers and wood products). We had Eli Whitney and Colt that developed standardized firearms, then cotton, shoes, defense, electronics, computers, dot.com, wireless technology, software, etc.

So what is our future? Where should we be focusing our efforts? Rich Karlgaard of Forbes talks of the Disruptive Dozen, all of which “exploit exponential advances in digital technology.” They are:

• Genomics

• New materials

• Energy storage

• Advanced recovery of oil and gas

• Renewable energy

• Robotics

• Autonomous vehicles

• 3-D printing

• Mobile Internet

• Internet of things

• Cloud computing

• Automation of knowledge work

There is no short-term answer or “fix” for New England’s high energy costs. Five or six years would be warp speed. So, to compete with other regions in the United States, we have to do better in areas that impact decisions of firms to stay and grow. Chief among these must be a competitive, educated and reasonably plentiful workforce. There is a lot of room for improvement on this score, whether it is retaining our new college grads or re-training experienced workers for new careers, trades or employment skills.

A region like ours with a two century history of success in innovation, invention, investment and entrepreneurialism should be thinking long and hard about these 12 sectors. Collectively, cities and towns, state by state, and the entire New England region ought to be really focused on these 12 opportunities.  To compete globally, we will need to address many deficiencies and challenges, but we would be heading in the right direction.

Bill Norton, CRE, FRM, is president of Norton Asset Management, Manchester, N.H.