Richmond's leaders should live forever, according to strategic consultant Jim Crupi, and shouldn't bother building a bench of younger leaders or influential players outside of the existing business and political community.
"Especially in tough economic times, you don't want to waste time, energy or money on people who just don't understand the importance of waiting things out," Crupi told the Retail Merchants Association. The association is the ninth organization to hire Crupi, a Texas-based consultant, to reassure local leaders that the status quo is sexy -- and oddly prescient.
"What the Richmond region needs is to recognize that men like L. Douglas Wilder and Tom Bliley and Gene Trani aren't a dime a dozen," Crupi's report noted. "These are giants in a region swarming with gnats. They come along once in a generation, waste a lot of time and money, and leave it to the next generation to clean up."
The solution, Crupi's report states, is to kick the ball down the field. The best way to do that? Avoid the inevitable and focus the region's energy on keeping its existing crop of leaders alive.
"To that end, Virginia Commonwealth University's Health Sciences Campus will commit all of its resources to extending the natural lives of 73 of Richmond's leading citizens," said Michael Rao, newly named President of Virginia Commonwealth University.
