ED Futures Newsletter

Dear ED Futures Reader:

Our attention remained focused on the history of businesses and industries in places during the last week. The experience was a learningful one for me, and hopefully for each of you as well.

It's good to know the "stories" of companies, industries, and economic places. It gives perspective to what we are trying to accomplish today. These stories point to how economic life is both born and dies in geographic places. These stories underscore the importance of people who make things happen. They remind all of us that the real power we have is in making good use of the "present;" no matter what point in history we visit.

As you recall, ED Futures started the year with a series of outlooks for the future. Not to my surprise, economic developers are far more interested in futurism and "here and now-ism" than what happened in the past. For the reasons listed in the previous paragraph, history is important.

If I had one recommendation from my historical research, it would be that the economic development community invest in a serious and honest study of the field's history, and of course offer a series of future perspectives based upon these reflections. Documentation is important, especially to the future generations of practitioners. They deserve to know who their ancestors were and the stories their work and lives told.

Have a wonderfully successful week. Look for a story or two in the coming week about economic development leadership, which is where my attention is focused at this very moment.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Don Iannone
ED Futures Publisher
Email: dtia@don-iannone.com
Phone: 440.449.0753