When Doug Griffiths was touring towns as an Alberta MLA and chair of that province's Rural Development Committee, he couldn't help but notice that his message wasn't getting through.
Communities that heard his presentation on how to improve their fortunes seemed to forget it almost immediately, failing to put any of its lessons to work and soon inviting him back to hear the same speech again.
Eventually, Griffiths tuned in on a piece of wisdom from his days as a schoolteacher. Ask kids what they need to do to lead a good life, and they'll recite some generic platitudes about things in the distant future. Ask them what they need to do to ruin their lives, and the answers come easily. More importantly, they know clearly what they need to do today to avoid those paths.
"For most of us, it's not how we plan for success," Griffiths says. "For most of us, if we would just quit doing the stuff that undermines our success, success would take care of itself."
That inspiration developed into 13 Ways to Kill a Community: the subject of a lecture tour, column series, and book that are now a side job for the MLA when he's not representing the people of Battle River-Wainwright.
Most recently, he spoke at last week's TransACTIONS summit in Yorkton.
The "13 ways," in brief, are as follows: 1) Have poor quality water; 2) Don't attract businesses; 3) Don't involve youth; 4) Don't assess needs; 5) Shop elsewhere; 6) Don't paint; 7) Don't cooperate; 8) Live in the past; 9) Ignore your seniors; 10) Be afraid of new things; 11) Ignore immigrants and newcomers; 12) Assume you're miles ahead; and 13) Don't take responsibility.
The problems are less about policy than they are about attitude, says Griffiths, which makes them extremely widespread.
"I've given this speech all over the place and people always come up and say, 'I know which community you're talking about,' and they're always wrong," he says. "Because the challenges are so universal, they happen in every community. It applies in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, Texas, or Louisiana."
The good news is that people are generally very receptive to Griffith's message. The MLA's humor-filled presentation is an opportunity for community leaders who suffer from some of the problem attitudes to take an honest look at themselves without feeling attacked.
Griffiths says he has experienced plenty of positive follow-ups with communities who found success by incorporating his ideas. But more than that, he has seen an overall change in attitudes in Saskatchewan over the past few years that makes him envision a bright future for the province.
"I think Saskatchewan has been down on itself in the past for some reason. But when I travel around Saskatchewan now, I see a whole lot of people - it's like they just realized how much they have sitting in front of them. There's more energy here than I've seen probably in a lifetime in Alberta.
"It's been very exciting. It's just that change in attitude: that 'Wait a second - we're successful, we're going to be successful, and we've got the world at our fingertips.' I have seen that change."
