Our series Three Things continues with Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host Christina Shockley. Today, Christina speaks with author and former Detroit Free Press columnist Desiree Cooper.

Ms. Cooper’s first idea for Michigan is for citizens to develop a new mindset when it comes to jobs. Rather than struggling to find good jobs, Cooper encourages Michiganders to imagine themselves as their own little cottage industries.

Using the collapse of the auto industry in Michigan as a prime example, Ms. Cooper says that the days of locking down a good job for a thirty-year career are long gone. “People have to think less about how to get a good job and more about how to be the job,” says Cooper, adding, “If you keep thinking about who’s going to hire you as opposed to what do you have to sell, then I think you’re going to be left behind.” In other words, Cooper wants people to think more about what they can offer their communities rather than strictly thinking about what they can offer a prospective employer.

Cooper’s second idea is to invest more in young people. Cooper says, “I’m speaking especially from Southeast Michigan, and thinking about how many young people in the Detroit area have no exposure whatsoever to the job market.”

Ms. Cooper speaks specifically about the need for youth to develop social skills and an understanding of customer service. She points to common forms of communication amongst youth including texting and the internet as reasons for children today to lack interpersonal skills.

Whether it’s the expression on their faces or the inflection in their voices, Cooper says many youth today don’t understand how to communicate with others when face to face. “Really basic human-relation skills – they don’t have them,” says Cooper.

In order to correct this, Cooper wants employed adults to mentor youth about what it takes, socially and otherwise, to be a good employee. “I think for people that do have jobs, to bring a young person in for the summer, for a weekend, after school, and just really teach them those basic skills, it will really give them a leg up when the economy gets better,” explains Cooper.

For her final idea, Ms. Cooper urges Michiganders to reach back into human economic history and rediscover bartering. She points to a new trend in Michigan called “time banking” as an example of what she’s talking about. Basically, time banking involves a large number of individuals putting any skill they can offer to someone else into a large pool, or bank. Then, those individuals can withdraw services and favors from others in the bank while also providing their skills to bank members. “We can have a whole economy of bartering that’s not really based on who your neighbors or who your friends are but who we all are in a region,” says Cooper.

Ms. Cooper says that her ideas for the state would make residents more aware of the resources that are available to them. “The first step is just really getting a handle on what resources exist,” says Cooper, adding, “We have a lot here. And the idea is to get our arms around that and then take that to the next level.”