The Seven Deadly Sins of Economic Development
Past sins seem to be on everyone’s mind these days. From Supreme Court nominees to TV executives, hardly a day goes by without a news story about one sinner or another. So I feel it’s my...
Ideas, Innovations and Inventions, oh my!!
My children had such great ideas. They were so good that I thought they would grow up to be famous inventors. My one son dreamed of inventing the perfect time machine, one that would whisk him...
What Really Makes America Great in 2018
I hate to admit it, but Make America Great Again is a great marketing campaign and sound bite. That said, if you ask people what made America great in the past and what will make it great in the...
Off with their heads…tax!
The City of Seattle recently dodged a bullet. Weeks after voting in a regressive $275 head tax on the city’s largest companies, the resulting civic uproar got the best of them and they backed...
An economic developer’s letter to his granddaughter.
Dear Elora, People have been congratulating me this past month on your birth and my becoming your grandfather. It’s not that it took much work on my part, but the way the congratulations have been...
KIDS are people, too!
I used to think that children were at their best when they were seen, not heard. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a parent. You like to think that you know it all, that being a grown-up gives...
What’s in your junk drawer?
I have a friend whose son is on the cusp of adulthood. He’s at that wonderful stage when he thinks he knows it all, but only because he hasn’t yet learned how much he doesn’t really know. Trying to...
What’s so funny about economic development?
I know this may be hard to believe, but I was not born an economic developer. True, if I were a dog, I would have been in economic development for 117 years by now. Sometimes it seemed as if I was...
Play Cupid with your businesses.
Here we are. It's February. The days are still woefully short, but the promise of longer days ahead keeps us chugging through the dank and dark, anxious for the spring thaw to arrive once again. But...
New Year’s Resolutions for the economic developer.
You’ve got to love January. That wonderful time of the year when you can treat the past like a magic slate and wipe it clean while making endless resolutions for the New Year. Since 2017 was my...
The gift that keeps giving.
It’s the holidays. For more than 200 major American cities, that means that Santa will soon be stopping by to break the hearts of anxious civic leaders who have been naughty and hoped to find Amazon...
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World, indeed.
I’ve always loved the movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. If you haven’t seen it, it stars some of the biggest comedians of the golden age of comedy in a farce where they all try to outdo...
Preparation is the best medicine.
Recent events around the world have really hit home with me. While the news has turned its attention to the after-effects of Harvey in Houston, my mind is on Aunt Helen and her fabulous fried...
Once Upon a Time…
Everyone loves a good story. I know I do. It’s what keeps me up at night. No, I’m not scared of the dark and I don’t have insomnia. I just get caught up in a great movie at the theater or at home...
Winning isn’t the only thing!
I was probably about five years old when my mother signed me up for T-ball. There, I was to learn the seemingly important skills of batting, catching, throwing and providing my parents with a chance...
50 ways to start your business…
Some years ago I wrote a training exercise with a site selector. It was based on a parody of Paul Simon’s 1975 hit, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. I called it 50 Ways to Leave a Community. Terribly...
Economic Development Jedi: Guardians of the Community
Since I have retired, I have had the pleasure of attending several social gatherings. At each, the questions eventually turn from what I am doing now to what I did in my previous life. I am always...
The end of the world?
Last October, Oct. 1 to be exact, I thought the world was coming to an end. No, it wasn’t that long-awaited Mayan prophecy about to come true. Nor was it a collision with a heavenly body, pestilence or even the elections that were just a month away.
By all rights, the world could have rightfully come to an end. As we all recall, the Chicago Cubs won the pennant (“… and the cattle will die, water will turn to blood, and pestilence will devastate our crops,” according to the Egyptian Enquirer, papyrus edition”). That alone could have brought the end of ages.
My swan song.
After almost 26 years, five governors, eight directors, six department name changes and hundreds of workshops and presentations, the time has come to put away my three-legged stool theory of economic development. Yes, the rumors are true that at the end of this month, I am retiring. I will feel like an alien from another planet, leaving the comforts of state government that has supported me for more than two decades and stepping off into the unknown that is retired life.
This blog shall serve as my swan song, which causes me concern, largely because I am neither swan-like nor can I sing.
WWMD (What Would MacGyver Do?)
Take a roll of duct tape, some Post-It Notes, a couple toilet tubes and an empty soda cans and what have you got?
We’ll if you’re MacGyver, you have everything you need to do in the bad guys, rescue the requisite damsel in distress, save the world and whip up a soufflé for dinner. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ll probably be able to cobble together a new business idea, create a bunch of jobs and help your community grow.
