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Cooperative human spirit fuels belief in future of the Valley

4 min read

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Good morning, everyone. Let’s talk about the part of Washington County that hugs the banks of that major transportation corridor, the Monongahela River.

When I was a kid, every building in my hometown of Charleroi was occupied by an entrepreneur who made his living in the shop downstairs and often raised his family upstairs. Of course, we didn’t call them entrepreneurs then, just businessmen. They were leaders in our community.

They made sure we had everything we needed “in town.” We didn’t have shopping malls or Amazon. I will always be from Charleroi because when a town embraces you and touches you like that, you just can’t seem to shake it off your shoes.

We were Pennsylvania’s finest. We were innovation wrapped in steel. We were covered in coal soot. The world saw us through glass of our own creation. We went to work.

That’s why I believe in the future of our region. I believe in the entrepreneurial spirit of our people; the leadership of our local and county governments; the power of our business community. Our once fierce pride may be a bit tempered, but it is still there. And it is coming back stronger. Our purpose has changed, but our hearts still beat proudly.

The private sector is now our region’s most effective change maker . . . period. Our future is clearly defined, but you won’t find it on any spreadsheet because spreadsheets don’t tell you about people, or about the pride of a community.

What we’re trying to accomplish in this region requires our entire community to work together. Our future demands a multi-faceted collaboration of the public and private sectors, as well as our nonprofits and all people. Our community doesn’t stop at the Washington County line. No, our community includes Fayette, Greene and Westmoreland counties as well.

I have always been proud to be a member of this beautiful community, our regional business community. We can improve lives and livelihoods for all. Our people are our message to the world, sharing who we are, what we are and where our passions live. When we celebrate and honor our people, we lift the entire region.

It’s on us to bring hope and embrace the human spirit. We are blessed to have a business community that gets it. We are a close-knit community, from large employers such as Washington Health System, Consol, Range Resources, Mylan and Mon Valley Hospital, to our talented small shops doing big things like Melone Advertising, Bridge Insurance Group and Perked Up Café.

We have high hopes and big dreams for our region. Our families and communities deserve our best. Our business community has a responsibility to embrace the unrelenting spirit of our people to develop a strong, local workforce to strengthen our local and regional economies. Businesses across our region are rich with passion, bold ideas and entrepreneurial spirit waiting to be awakened. That spirit carries over to our communities. We have power to change lives in these communities we call home.

We have strong and compassionate leadership in our region. Leadership is always a commitment to people and is the responsibility of everyone, not just those at the top. Whether we are a CEO leading a business, a bank teller, a nurse, a teacher, an engineer or a truck driver, we are leaders in our regional community. Leadership is not a license to do less, but to do more.

Humans are social creatures who have never been the fastest or strongest species on this planet. Yet, we have survived, adapted and thrived because of our ability to form bonds of trust and cooperation. This collaborative spirit sustains us today.

We have problems, of course, but we know the manner in which we respond to them and the solutions we present will impact every generation to come.

Jamie Protin is founder and principal of The Protin Group in Belle Vernon.

To submit business-related columns, email Rick Shrum at rshrum@observer-reporter.com.

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