My friend Sara Dunnigan just announced that she is leaving the world of consulting to become the Executive Director of the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, a job that perfectly fits the most enthusiastic Make Our Existing Businesses More Successful professional in the economic development profession. Thankfully, before she moved on, she wrote up her research …
Continue reading Do Business Recruitment and Retention Right: a guide from Sara Dunnigan
OK. I wouldn't know the person who wrote this if they bit me, but I think I am in love... both because of the valuable insight this person brings to a crucial issue, and because... well, anyone who names their blog "Nonprofit With Balls" is my kinda people. Anyone who touches communities that aren't completely …
What-you-do-will-have-impacts-you-didn't-expect is probably one of the strongest themes in the Local Economy Revolution Book. As I describe in there, one of my earliest encounters with the profession of planning resulted from being hip-deep in the aftereffects of a massive urban renewal project in Green Bay, Wisconsin. No matter what I did, where I was, which building I …
At one point during South by Southwest, [talk show host Jimmy] Kimmel’s crew approached a poised young woman with brown hair. “What have you heard about Tonya and the Hardings?” the interviewer asked. “Have you heard they’re kind of hard-hitting?” Failing to pick up on this verbal wink, the woman launched into an elaborate response …
There are very few people that I will Tweet or post sight unseen (which apparently gives me another piece of weirdness cred). Ellen Harpel of SmartIncentives.org is about the only one for which I will do that consistently. Her understanding of the potential and failures of economic development incentives (a topic that I gave a …
Continue reading A Must-Read: Ellen Harpel’s 6 steps to smart incentives use
It's kind of shocking (at least to me) but it's been four (four!) years since I launched the Wise Economy Revolution! In that time I've gained thousands of readers, yammered at thousands of not-entirely-helpless audience members, gained the friendship of some amazing people and had the privilege of working on some kick-ass projects. Also, I finally managed …
Continue reading Wise Economy Workshop Birthday Promotion! 30%-50% off Wise Fool Books!
As most readers know, I am an avid tech startup junkie with a strong interest in how tech companies are both reacting to and themselves remaking economies, both through their works and products and through the fundamentally different approach that people trained in the tech world bring to decision-making, innovation and problem-solving -- issues that …
This piece of research from Tom Sanchez and Nader Afzalan is insightful for both what it includes and what is does not include. Tom and Nader examined the reported areas of expertise among hundreds of academic urban planners and graphed the resulting prevalence various areas of expertise, as well as the commonalities in areas of …
One of the challenges in the back of my head most of the time is the questions of needing to find a better, more integrated and more holistic way to plan for the future of cities. I don't have a full answer yet, but I know that a big piece of it has to be more …
Continue reading From the Good Ideas File: 5 Pillars of a Citywide Revitalization Strategy
My parents were Depression children who learned early on that things that other people abandon can have value. I wrote about my dad's penchant for curb-picking in one of the most personal essays in the book -- and I described his tendency to show me some piece of foundry casting or industrial leftover, describe a …
Continue reading from the Good Ideas File: using what you got in Covington, Kentucky
The Local Economy Revolution Has Arrived 