Will Rogers once joked, "If you can build a business up big enough, it's respectable." It's a good joke because the average person knows instinctively that size alone cannot determine the quality of a business.

In fact, I have written before on how a good idea can come from anywhere, and I like to see this idea peek through the fog of business discussion from time to time. My most recent vindication came at the welcome reception for the recent APEC conference (see this post for an introduction), where leaders from 21 countries around the Pacific Rim converged on Montana to discuss trade issues, specifically as it relates to SMEs (government speak for Small and Medium Enterprises). Hey, that sounds like us!

In fact, it sounds like pretty much all businesses in Montana – upwards of 96% of jobs in this state reside with SMEs. But it also describes, simply, most businesses anywhere. It is the small- and medium-sized businesses that not only provide most jobs, but I suspect most of the innovation and creativity that drives business forward.

A shout out to Senator Max Baucus for bringing this conference to Montana, to Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke for recognizing the value of small business to the global economy and to Jim Scott of First Interstate Bank, who asked for our help in producing this welcome video that was played at the beginning of the reception.