Entre-Slam is an entrepreneurial story telling competition held in Ann Arbor. Storytelling is powerful.  This was also a great way to illustrate story-telling as important to change and communicating complex ideas, including my history in organization development.   In my situation, this was a signal to myself to enter the speaking circuit.  I also wanted to [...]

It’s always good to hear some good news about cities making a comeback.  Looking at Detroit and Las Vegas is a great way to explore how cities can envision a brighter future for us all. View of the Detroit Renaissance Center from within the Detroit Athletic Club, 2012 In this case, Detroit makes a recent [...]

As the technology age moves us along, innovation has been heralded as one of the few growth spaces left, and the power of community, think social media, is the other.   Do they blend?   Does creativity have a place in how this can happen? Enter change.  It is important to keep change leadership and [...]

The Future Midwest 2011 conference kicked off April 28, 2011. Here are some highlights: Oliver Starr discussing Curation via Pearltree, Example – Louis Vuitton store in Milan, Guggenheim museum in NYC
The Chicago “New Architects including Manifest Digital, consulting + digital including a focus on disruption, change: highlighting generational differences and the role of leadership in dealing with Evening keynote by Dan Gilbert: vision for WEBward Avenue, Make Detroit cars sexy again, the importance of tech and creative companies coming to Detroit. Detroit as a tough, resilent, creative, tech hub.

Higher education, generally not known for high creativity and agile strategy, could use a bit of rethinking, based on this excerpt below. Awhile back, I asked a young friend, Scott to write a guest blog post for Reveln entitled Right Sizing Your Education Options. It was based on learning of his inventive, innovative approach to reducing a high cost for his post-secondary education. Also note, Scott is gainfully employed.

It’s not surprising to me that creativity and imagination, with social media listening, could be a key gateway to the future. I’ve certainly experienced what a lack of it does to work environments. Brian Solis, a respected author, blogger, national speaker who hits it right on regarding traits that represent the future of business.

via 5min.com After the short ad in the video, meet Saras Saravathy, Associate Professor – Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.  She speaks on how to be successful in business, starting  with “entrepreneurship is teachable.” . She has also been featured on TEDxMidAtlantic. If you have the desire and intention, as well attention, it [...]

Deb:  Some good news via Joe Minock and Chris Xiromeritis and the Times: Young entrepreneurs have met with success starting new businesses in Detroit. Excerpted  Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times DETROIT — With $6,000 and some Hollywood-style spunk, four friends opened this city’s only independent foreign movie house three months ago in an [...]

via flickr.com The statistics below about women in leadership were surprising.  Women, including many wealthy women who’ve earned their money themselves, are now entering politics, becoming university presidents and taking on roles as power brokers. Excerpted | The Women’s Information Network, from Paula’s Blog: …the amazing American Baby Boomer women ~ women born between 1945 [...]

Write your business plan in pencil!   Reading this post by Bob Reiss is a solace.  Just taking a few minutes to look at the categories of strategic, tactical and operational is a great reminder. In my case, I used a flipchart paper to list these three major categories.  Then it is easy to review [...]