Recent news that a major investment by the Kansas Bioscience Authority will help add 172 jobs to a pharmaceutical company in McPherson is, in many ways, just what the doctor ordered for the state.

The new jobs are a great sign of how the newly formed Bioscience Authority can help spur growth of high-tech, above-average jobs. The authority is investing $200,000 over three years to help fund a program to steer young Kansas-educated scientists to the company.

The announcement of new jobs is early validation that the investment state legislators made when creating the authority was a wise one. It also is heartening to see that the authority is seeking opportunities to create growth in all areas of the state, not just the growing northeast region.

The press coverage surrounding the McPherson announcement in mid-February focused on a successful rural Kansas community. Articles noted the town has five full industrial parks and a long history of economic success. It is a good story to hear in a day when many people perceive most of the state west of Manhattan to be in a steady decline. It certainly doesn’t have to be that way.

In McPherson’s case there was some good fortune in the discovery of oil in the 1930s, but the important part about this story is what happened after the oil boom was over. In the 1950s, a group of community leaders recognized the need to bring new industry to town. Convincing companies to come to central Kansas likely wasn’t easy, but the community’s leaders found a way. They ultimately developed a plan to use the city-operated electric plant to produce the least expensive electricity in the state. The strategy has worked well.

A community – led by devoted individuals – set a goal, identified a strategy, and then rolled up its sleeves and worked hard to make it happen. It is a good blueprint that leaders in other communities – including Lawrence – should examine.

Certainly Lawrence is a fine community with much to be proud of. But ponder this: McPherson, a town of about 14,000 people, has 3,000 industrial jobs. Lawrence, a community of about 90,000 people, has around 7,000 industrial jobs. If our population was able to create jobs at the same pace they do in McPherson, Lawrence would have nearly 12,000 more industrial jobs than we do today. Imagine how the Lawrence economy would benefit if we could grow even half that many new industrial jobs.

Lawrence certainly has the ability to do that. We have been blessed with many assets including a number of fine leaders who have helped attract valuable employers. Companies like Hallmark, ICL Performance Products (formerly Astaris), the Kmart Distribution Center and Pearson Government Solutions, just to name a few, came to Lawrence, in part, because leaders – individuals who really had nothing personally to gain – spent their time and effort to work on their community’s behalf.

The McPherson prescription might be a good one for us to study. That community set a goal and figured out how to capitalize on a strength. But it all started with a group of community leaders who stepped up and said we must get this done.

That’s the important part for us to remember. After all, creating a vision is fine, but a vision is only an idea until good people turn it into reality.