I’ve had a little time to digest Fusion’s Horizon awards that occurred Thursday night at the Uptown Palladium in Birmingham.  It was a tremendous honor to be nominated for the Communication Services category, along with Tara Michener and James Canning.  Being around like-minded professionals such as me that are working toward improving the Detroit area was tremendously inspiring.

I was particularly interested in the keynote speech, which was given by Detroit Regional Chamber President Sandy K. Baruah.  He has been US Assistant Secretary of Commerce and, most recently, head of the Small Business Association (SBA).  Some of his points drew upon his business, as well as his viewpoints as a relative newcomer to the Detroit area.

One of his best points was a story of when Baruah and his wife visited Detroit for the first time.  They had just landed at Metro Airport.  Baruah’s wife was looking for information on Detroit but all that she could see was stuff on Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties.  She asked him where Detroit was and Baruah told her that you’d have to know that Detroit is in Wayne County to find it.

As much as we talk about coming together and transcending regional differences, one of the biggest things that we need to do is to stop thinking in terms of East Side/West Side or Oakland/Wayne/Macomb Counties.  What I had said before, still say and will continue to do so is emphasize the importance of Detroit making it.  Detroit is Wayne County.  Detroit is this region. Hell, Detroit is Michigan.  If it fails, then we all fail.  We must do everything in our power to make sure that this does not happen. So let’s keep fighting the good fight and keep working together.

Author: José A. Rodríguez