Darla Moore's New Carolina Competitiveness Manifesto
Compiled by
John Temple Ligon

Darla Moore

Lake City's Darla Moore, vice president of Rainwater Inc., is founder and chair of the Palmetto Institute, a non- profit think tank aimed at bolstering per capita income in South Carolina. She serves on the boards of the University of South Carolina and New York University Medical School and Hospitals, and she sits on the Executive Committee of South Carolina's Council of Competitiveness. She also serves on the board of The South Financial Group (Carolina First Bank) and the National Advisory Board of JP Morgan. In May, she will be inducted into the S.C. Business Hall of Fame.

Moore and New Carolina, the logo for S.C.'s Council on Competitiveness, recently published her manifesto, Being Competitive: What Does It Really Mean? The text in full is available at newcarolina.org/manifestos. Here is a collection of select quotations from the manifesto:

"...competitiveness depends on a virtuous cycle that begins with a supply of the essential components of competitiveness and ends with true, robust economic competitiveness..."

"The challenge in evaluating South Carolina's competitiveness is to be certain that we are measuring the key components of the whole and that we understand what the measurements mean."

"The road to competitiveness for South Carolina is a long, challenging one, and we are just beginning our journey."

"Our challenge is to create an economy not only supported by a skilled workforce, but one that is driven by innovative, creative companies adding value to products and services in order to capture a premium in the world market."

"These changes are absolutely necessary to be more competitive, and if we cannot become more competitive, we cannot offer a more prosperous life for ourselves and, more important, for our children. It is that simple."

"To bring you full circle, success depends on a virtuous cycle, which begins with supply - supply of a highly skilled and ready work force, supply of cutting- edge innovations, supply of worthy opportunities for venture capital investment, and the environment to patent new creations and seed fast growth companies."

"Therefore, the next time an issue arises regarding whether or not we need to continue working toward changes to be more competitive, think about the worker in China making a dollar an hour wanting desperately to take a South Carolina worker's job away so he or she can work extra hours. This example will help us all remember what being competitive really means and why we have to continue to work toward that goal."