All Investment is Local
“Without promotion, something terrible happens… nothing!” -P. T. Barnum Great empires and countries have promoted trade around the world for centuries. The development of trading routes was developed...
View ArticleIn Plain Sight
“The best customer of American industry is the well paid worker.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt American workers are some of the very best in the world. They are a primary competitive advantage for the United...
View ArticlePublic Leadership
“Your nation will succeed or fail to the degree that all of us citizens and businesses alike are active participants in building strong, sustainable and enriching communities.” -Arnold Hiatt, Former...
View ArticleBack to Work
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” -Max de Pree I spent Election Day in both 2008 and 2016 in Europe, while...
View ArticleAdapt or Perish
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” -H.G. Wells Adapt or Perish It is with great gratitude that I write this week. It is the beginning of the holiday season, a time when...
View ArticleThe State of our Region
“Average leaders have quotes. Good leaders have a plan. Exceptional leaders have a system.” -Urban Meyer At Economic Development 411 each year, the Columbus Region comes together to dialogue about...
View ArticleFinding Our Way
“The reality about transportation is that it’s future-oriented. If we’re planning for what we have, we’re behind the curve.” -U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx Most problems are solved out...
View Article2016
“Be curious, not judgmental.” -Walt Whitman We will be taking a few weeks off from the Economic Development Matters blog, so I took a look back through the year’s posts and I’d like to provide...
View ArticleA Comprehensive Growth Agenda
“Courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Welcome to 2017. The events of the past year have triggered discussion and intrigue about the future...
View ArticleLeadership by Engagement
“Markets are conversations.” -The Cluetrain Manifesto Change is in the air. The Internet of Things (IOT), artificial intelligence (AI), the explosion of e-commerce, advanced mobility, personalized...
View ArticleDemographic Waves Begin to Come Ashore
“The human being is a self-propelled automaton entirely under the control of external influences. Willful and predetermined though they appear, his actions are governed not from within, but from...
View ArticleOpen and Smart
“Because we share the philosophy that Columbus is open to all, we are always taking risks, always thinking big and always open to new ideas.” -The Columbus Image Project Communities often struggle to...
View ArticleNecessary Ingredients
“A dynamic economy begins with a good education.” -Bob Taft I’ve written before about the balance sought in building an economy that is both durable and dynamic. Economic strength and diversity create...
View ArticleCivic Literacy
“The practice of democracy is not passed down through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned anew by each generation of citizens.” -Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Being a well-informed...
View ArticleSoftware IS Eating the World
In 2011, Marc Andreessen said, “More and more major businesses and industries are being run on software and delivered as online services – from movies to agriculture to national defense.” The...
View ArticleCashiers or Customer Service?
“The customer experience is the next competitive battleground.” -Jerry Gregoire, CIO, Dell Computers Last week, I read an article in the Washington Post that stopped me in my tracks. It was about...
View ArticleStart with a Question
“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” -Thomas Berger, Novelist Columbus 2020 took time at the beginning of this year to revisit our mission and original strategy....
View ArticleTools of the Trade
“If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” A musician’s instrument, a painter’s brushes, a chef’s knives. All of these tools are integral to the success of the professional who...
View ArticleDo the Work
“‘Life is struggle.’ I believe that within that quote lies the most important lesson in entrepreneurship: Embrace the struggle.” -Ben Horowitz, author of The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a...
View ArticleChange = Decisions
“Two basic rules of life are: 1) Change is inevitable. 2) Everybody resists change.” -W. Edwards Deming The global supply chain for most of today’s industry has been built up over the last quarter...
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