Leadership Quote by John Hoeven

“Nowadays” does a lot of stage work here: it conjures a nagging modern pressure - global competition, quarterly targets, the always-on spreadsheet gaze - and then pivots smoothly into reassurance. Hoeven’s line is pitched as pro-business common sense, but it’s also a small act of political translation: take a contested, emotionally loaded idea (“productivity”) and rebrand it as a hometown virtue (“our folks produce”).

The intent is twofold. First, it signals fluency in corporate language without sounding like a consultant. “Productivity” is the keyword donors, chambers of commerce, and economic-development panels want to hear. Second, it folds labor into identity politics in the most palatable way possible. “Our folks” is folksy ownership: workers are framed as a unified community, not as employees with grievances. It’s a soft erasure of conflict - wages, unions, safety, burnout - replaced by pride and output.

The subtext is that economic worth equals measurable production, and that a region’s moral standing can be proven through efficiency. That’s a persuasive move in a state-level political context where leaders compete for investment and federal dollars. It also subtly flatters constituents: you’re not just hardworking; you’re competitive.

What makes the line work rhetorically is its compression. “Business,” “productivity,” “produce” all share the same utilitarian music, then “our folks” warms it up. It’s an alibi for modern capitalism delivered in a handshake voice: don’t worry about the abstraction; trust the people you know.