Otter: Young professionals should stay in Idaho
by Robb Hicken
Published: March 25,2010
Time posted: 7:22 am
Tags: Boise Young Professionals, Butch Otter, Employment
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter speaks with Boise young professionals on March 24.
Look at the future with an open mind and be ready for that next opportunity, growth option or career move.
That’s advice from Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, addressing more than 150 people at the State Capitol on March 23 answering, “Why Should Young Professionals Stay in Idaho?”
“Focus on what you do have, instead of dwelling on what you don’t have,” Otter said, adding that one should always make the best of what is available at the present moment.
The program started off with a show of hands from those attending who were born in Idaho, grew up in Idaho, left and returned, and those who had moved to the Boise area because they’d heard it was a great work environment.
“Idaho continues to shine,” Otter said, “not because of Micron, but because we have some very high-tech companies here and in eastern Idaho that have led the way.”
Companies like Micron started as a simple idea, he said, noting that he first met with Micron founders in a small room in Meridian where its founders said they would take silicon sand and make it into something.
“You need to look and ask, ‘Am I in the right environment to take this little idea … to make a difference,’” he said.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a young boy growing up on a potato farm in Rigby, saw the individual and larger pictures of the fields in which he worked. He recognized the importance of the individual plant, and its part in making up the bigger picture in the field.
He began to think of what he had at his immediate disposal, not what he wished he had.
Farnsworth excelled in chemistry at Rigby High School, and produced sketched prototypes of electron tubes that would eventually be patented and used by Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
“He created a whole new industry and a whole new world of communications, from the electronic tubes he dreamed of – from a picture tube,” Otter said.
As a young man growing up in Caldwell, Otter related how he played for the football team on defense, but the team did not have a quarterback who could move out of the pocket, and so the coach worked with what he had. He put the young Otter in the backfield, not to handle the ball, but to stop anyone who was after the quarterback.
“My coach taught me to set priorities for limited resources,” he said. “He taught me to work with what we had.”
Otter said young Idaho people need to look to make a difference in the situations presented to them today.
The state has plenty of resources at its disposal, he said. Natural and intangible resources abound in the state. Natural resources have always been a strength of the state. The intangibles, its residents and education opportunities, are abundant.
Otter recalled a time in Idaho history – 1985-’86 – when nearly 5,000 people left the state looking for work. Now, 20-plus-years later, people are returning to the state.
“What we did back then, and are doing now, is looking at what we did have and not sitting around worrying about what we didn’t have,” he said.
Otter told the audience to come forward with ideas, work ethics, concepts, career options so they could be the “next world shakers.”
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March 26th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ericshaver: RT @ButchOtter: The @Idahobusiness had a very good story about an event at which I spoke this week. Read it here: http://bit.ly/b9yj8C @BYP…
March 26th, 2010 at 10:55 am
For a 180 degree different perspective on the Otter speech to the Young Pros, see the Boise Weekly article on line at http://www.boiseweekly.com
Interesting perspective from a guy that married a lunch ticket and never invented or marketed anything in his life except his persona. Young Pros might stay in Idaho but their children will leave.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
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March 28th, 2010 at 7:43 am
Otter, like the buffoonish Idaho Legislature, is in complete denial. They’re all utterly clueless about the factors (that came about 8-10 years back) that now engender economic growth, capital formation, and job opportunties.
Unfortunately, Idaho young people will pay the price unless they leave.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Otter discussed example of Oracle not coming to this state as Idaho didn’t have enought dedicated electricity…..shouldn’t youn people get behind efforts to fix that situation .
March 30th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Idaho is a wonderful place. But with all due respect, someone should show Gov Otter what the twitter feed was the night of his speech. He wouldn’t be impressed with those feeds coming from the audience.
We have a great young professional group in Idaho, but the legislature & the Governor are way out of touch – in my honest opinion – with their value system.
Politicians (well, not just politicians) need to listen to what’s going on. My impression is that things are moving pretty fast and I feel like there’s a need to cut through the rhetoric and the political monstrosity that has developed from the good ole’ boy network to keep things the same (for them).
Governor, in all honesty, I can’t relate to you and from what I heard about the event, neither could your audience.
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