Memphis has a rich culture of business innovation!

One of the great things about Memphis is that we have a long history of innovation built into our culture. Every time that you turn on a radio, go to a grocery store, send a package overnight, or stay in a motel, you need to think of Memphis. Sam Phillips, Clarence Saunders, Fred Smith and Kemmons Wilson are all Memphians who not only changed their hometown -- they changed the world with their innovation.

Sam Phillips revolutionized the world from Memphis by being one of the first to understand that music that traditionally had been the exclusive province of African-Americans would also be enjoyed by masses of majority whites around the world. Sam Phillips gave us Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, B.B. King and others. Our radio is much richer and more diverse today because of Sam Phillips' innovation -- we call it rock and roll.

Clarence Saunders founded the old Piggly Wiggly grocery chain here in Memphis. He understood that American shopping habits were changing. No longer did Americans want to buy their food goods in a series of separate stores. They wanted a one stop shop to get all their produce, meat, dry goods and baked goods in one place. He revolutionized the grocery business and made and lost vast fortunes as a result of that. His home, the Pink Palace, now serves as one of our great museums. Modern grocery stores all over the United States can trace their ancestry to Memphis and Clarence Saunders' Piggly Wiggly stores.

Although it may be hard to imagine, there once was a day when it was difficult to send a letter or a package from city to city overnight. You used to have to use the airlines to accomplish that end. Fred Smith forever changed that by founding Fed Ex here in Memphis and the rest is a not so overnight success. Today, Fed Ex is probably the most important factor in the Memphis economy and one of the most important companies in the world. Fed Ex and Fred Smith's innovation led to millions of jobs and is critical to our modern economy.

Kemmons Wilson also revolutionized American life and business from right here in Memphis. He founded the first Holiday Inn right here on Summer Ave. He knew that families and business travelers did not have uniform hotel options as they traveled. The beauty of his innovation was that he gave us all a clean, affordable and predictable lodging option as we traveled. Most national hotel chains today trace their roots to that first Holiday Inn right here in Memphis.

There are numerous other examples of Memphis innovation that have changed the way we live and work. Medical advances at St. Jude have meant that certain forms of childhood leukemia are now very survivable when twenty years ago such a diagnosis was a death sentence.

Whether it is our openness to those not originally from Memphis, a necessity borne out of poverty, a willingness to try new things or something simply "in the water", Memphis has a long standing culture of innovation in business. We can and should be proud of that culture. We can and should help build on it by acting on that next great idea and starting or expanding a business right here in Memphis.