Peter Senge on Spirituality in Business

"As I think about the word spirit or spirituality, I immediately think about its multiple meanings. And one that often gets lost is what I am doing. If you think about someone who really has moved you as a person, someone whom you would regard as having depth, a spiritual quality, what they do is a key dimension of their distinctiveness. Something about the way their life is focused and their energies are directed is in line with something that was quite integral or essential to them. For me, work was an extraordinary opportunity to deal with these questions."

"All of us have the central concern about using our lives well. Obviously, it would be easy to overstate this point and not recognize very powerful cultural counter-forces pulling in the opposite direction. As I mentioned, there is a belief in our culture that the purpose of a business is to make money. This perspective is almost universal. There is also a story about us as individuals—that what we really care about in life is ourselves. What we care about is how much money we make, and how much power we have."

--Peter Senge, Spirituality in Business and Life:Asking the Right Questions

Download the article here.

Spirituality in Business

Ken Blanchard (KB) in an interview with Raz Ingrasci (RI) from the Hoffman Institute...

"Raz Ingrasci: Increasingly people speak about spiritual values in business. What is going on?

Ken Blanchard: This is the first time in the history of business where you can be great at what you're doing today, and you're out of business tomorrow. My sense is that people become interested in spirituality when things are happening beyond their control. People are looking for some higher power to help them. It's amazing how people start to think about spirituality when they get sick, or they have some major problem, and finally realize they can't figure it all out themselves.

RI: There is also the sense that when one acts in alignment with a higher power, the action is more likely to lead to both success and satisfaction. So, people are looking for balance and flow, as well as success.

KB: Right. In the foreword to Bob Juppert's book Half Time, Peter Drucker says that 50 to 60 years ago there wasn't a lot of opportunity for success for people. You either owned a farm or a factory, or you were a farm or a factory laborer. Retirement was natural because people were retiring from what they didn't want to do in the first place. Today there are many more opportunities for success because of the technology and the changing world. Drucker said that today, people who have been successful, suddenly find themselves in their 40's trying to decide what else there is in life. One group doesn't get it, and they think they'd better continue to amass symbols of success, and another group starts to search inward for a spirituality that says there's got be something more than material success. Juppert says that people start moving from success to significance. The point of Half Time is we're in the locker room wondering "what am I going to do for the second half?" In the appendix to What Color is Your Parachute, Dick Bowles has a wonderful section where he says that you can't talk about your "calling" without talking about the "caller." That is another reason people get into spirituality."

Read the rest of the interview here.

Bill King from Expansion Management: What is Economic Development?

Bill King wrote in this EM Blog: "Just what exactly is economic development? Is its purpose to implement industrial policy, or is it simply a way to streamline some of the government bureaucracy? Is it corporate welfare, or a way to attract much needed jobs and tax base to communities? For that matter, is its main purpose to attract new companies to a locale, or to help retain the businesses that are already there?" He goes on to say it is all of these things.

I raise again the question: "Where is economic development on the professional development curve?" Click here to download my white paper on the subject.

Incentives Still Up There as Site Selection Driver

That is the message in a recent Area Development Magazine article. Here is an excerpt from the article to bear in mind:

"The reasons that incentives are given such weight in the decision-making process are severalfold:

• Incentives are looked at no differently from other economic factors. They have a direct financial impact on the outcome of a proposed investment. Incentives affect the return that a company realizes when undertaking capital investment in a project and may be a determinative of the proposed project’s meeting return-on-investment requirements. These include both project startup costs and ongoing operating expenses. The decision-maker must ask, “Would the company realize a higher return on its capital if the capital were invested elsewhere?”

• Incentives have a direct impact on other primary location factors. For many companies, the burden of state and local taxes is of great importance in their location decision-making. Incentives have a direct impact on the long-term tax liability that a company will face at each location being considered. Tax incentives may enable a location with a decided tax disadvantage to fare better than competing locations that have an initial tax advantage.

• Incentives provide a definite competitive advantage to companies that are able to secure state and community support. More companies are realizing that competitors that secure incentives have lower project startup and operating costs. This provides a competitive advantage to these companies that decision-makers should not ignore."

Source: Area Development Magazine

Economy Growing

Emerging from a year-end rut, the economy dashed ahead in the opening quarter of this year at a 5.3 percent pace, the fastest in 2 1/2 years.

The new snapshot showed gross domestic product was even stronger during the January-to-March period than the 4.8 percent annual rate first estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department reported this week.

Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is considered the best barometer of the country's economic fitness.

Read more here.

Are Traditional Retirements a Thing of the Past?

Think you will retire without working? Think again. Here is an interesting BLS research paper.

The paper investigates whether permanent, one-time retirements are coming to an end just as the trend towards earlier and earlier retirements did nearly 20 years ago. It explores how common bridge jobs are among today’s retirees, and how uncommon traditional retirements have become.

Methods: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the researchers explore the work histories and retirement patterns of a cohort of retirees aged 51 to 61 in 1992 over a ten-year time period in both a cross-sectional and longitudinal context. Bridge job determinants are examined using bivariate comparisons and a multinomial logistic regression model of the bridge job decision.

Results: They find that one-half to two-thirds of the HRS respondents with full-time career jobs take on bridge jobs before exiting the labor force completely. They also find that bridge job behavior is most common among younger respondents, respondents without defined-benefit pension plans, and respondents at the lower- and upper-end of the wage distribution. Implications: The evidence suggests that changes in the retirement income landscape since the 1980s appear to be taking root. Going forward, traditional retirements will be the exception rather than the rule.

Download PDF version (216K)

Ohio's Bid for Latest Honda PLant

Ohio Governor Bob Taft says the state is pitching two sites for Honda's sixth auto plant in North America. In a trip yesterday to the Cincinnati area, Taft said the state was offering sites in Van Wert, about 100 miles southwest of Toledo, and in Octa, about 45 miles southwest of Columbus. Honda announced last week that it will build a $400 million plant in the Midwest as part of a global expansion.

Officials from both Ohio and Indiana have said the states are in the running for the plant, which will be built by 2008, employ 1,500 workers and produce 200,000 vehicles a year. The Indiana site is near the city of Greensburg, along Interstate 74 about midway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Taft says recent tax changes that benefit business could help Ohio.

Read more here.

Northeast Mississippi Gets the Message

Here are some clips from speeches by two economic researhers at the recent annual meeting of NE Mississippi economic development officials in Tupelo:

"There is not a single formula, but having cheap low-skill labor isn't effective anymore," he said. "Now you have to find out what makes a region unique, what works well. It could be the weather, it could be the proximity of two major research universities. ... What you have to do is encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. It's about finding a niche, and yes, marketing what you have."Pepper echoed his remarks.The old economic model of luring companies through cheap labor and land is failing because of bigger incentives in China and other countries.

Education is the key. Economic growth and development hinge on educating people, Weiler and Pepper said."Education is a critical foundation for success," Weiler said. "It's quite clear that the more educated the people are, the more a community will better develop."With some 40 percent of Mississippi's ninth- through 12th-grade students dropping out of school, the effects are devastating, Pepper said."

Read more here.

ED Futures Newsletter

Article Index, May 17-24, 2006

5/24/2006
Urban Land Institute on Higher Density Development
View

5/24/2006 Online Brownfield Redevelopment Resources
View

5/23/2006
Trade Development Alliance of Seattle: Check It Out!
View

5/23/2006
San Diego Dialogue; Check It Out!
View

5/22/2006
U.S Leading Index Down Slightly in April
View

5/22/2006
Conference Board of Canada: Feds Should Help Cities
View

5/21/2006
Ontario Holding Its Own in Auto Investment
View

5/21/2006
Wisconsin Concerned About Not Getting New Investment Deals
View

5/20/2006
Mexico Expects Increase in Foreign Business Investment in 2006
View

5/20/2006
Korean Domestic Business Investment Declines
View

5/19/2006
On a Minimum Wage Hike
View

5/19/2006
Team NEO’s REDIS Program
View

5/18/2006
Ontario’s Regional Innovation Network Strategy
View

5/18/2006
Louisville’s High Impact Program
View

5/17/2006
Great Canadian Cluster Analysis
View

5/17/2006
Native People in Canada
View

5/17/2006
First Nations University
View

5/17/2006
April 2006 Real Earnings
View

Contact:

Don Iannone
Publisher, ED Futures Journal
Tel: 440.449.0753
Email: dtia@don-iannone.com

Urban Land Institute on Higher Density Development

Suburban PowerPoint Presentation

A Plan for Tomorrow: Creating Stronger and Healthier Communities Today (PowerPoint)
PowerPoint Script-Suburban (PDF file)
PowerPoint Script-Suburban (Word document)

Urban PowerPoint Presentation

A Plan for Tomorrow: Creating Stronger and Healthier Cities Today (PowerPoint)
PowerPoint Script-Urban (PDF file)PowerPoint Script-Urban (Word document)

Source: Urban Land Institute

Online Brownfield Redevelopment Resources

A friend asked me to help her identify some resources for brownfield cleanup and redevelopment. I decided to post the links here in case others needed this type information:

http://www.brownfieldassociation.org/CA_Chapter.htm

http://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/pub-detail.asp?id=533

http://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/pub-detail.asp?id=396

http://www.don-iannone.com/edfutures/2006/04/financing-brownfields-redevelopment-in.html

http://www.don-iannone.com/edfutures/2003/08/brownfield-redevelopment-working-in.html

http://www.planning.unc.edu/courses/261/hinkley/bibliomn.htm

http://urban.csuohio.edu/glefc/publications.htm

http://www.uwm.edu/~frankn/brownfields.pdf

http://cepm.louisville.edu/Pubs_WPapers/PDF_Docs/upe2002.pdf

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/1996/10/28/focus5.html?t=printable

http://www.iedconline.org/EDNow/ARCHIVES/1-31-02.PDF

http://www.sppsr.ucla.edu/dup/research/Section2.pdf

http://www.nemw.org/brownfields.htm

http://www.nemw.org/brownfin.htm

http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/

Trade Development Alliance of Seattle: Check It Out!

The Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle is a collaboration of the Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma, Metropolitan King County Government, Snohomish County Government, Pierce County Government, City of Seattle, City of Everett, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and union leadership to promote the trade interests of this region in domestic and international markets. The Trade Alliance is born out of a recognition that new local partnerships are necessary to retain our region's future competitiveness in a rapidly changing global economy.

The mission of the Trade Alliance is to promote Greater Seattle, including King, Snohomish and Pierce Counties, as one of North America's premier international gateways and commercial centers. To this end, the Trade Alliance has developed a strategic promotion plan to enhance the identity of Greater Seattle in targeted world markets through marketing publications, trade missions and other activities. The Trade Alliance is establishing working relationships with export promotion, international tourism and international trade and investment organizations to coordinate this marketing.

Similarly, the Trade Alliance is developing a program to enhance the identity of Greater Seattle and the Port of Seattle in U.S. domestic markets, where gateway decisions regarding shipping and other international services are made.

San Diego Dialogue; Check It Out!

San Diego Dialogue, a self-funded public policy research center based at UCSD Extension, was founded in 1991 as a forum for discussion and consensus-building among the San Diego-Baja California cross-border community. Since its inception, the Dialogue has conducted research on long-term challenges and opportunities that the binational region faces, as well as encouraged the development and implementation of viable solutions to improve the crossborder regional quality of life.

Beginning in late 2004, San Diego Dialogue launched a major new program: Crossborder Innovation & Competitiveness Initiative. The goal of this initiative is to identify opportunities to strengthen the global competitiveness of high value-added, high technology industries in the San Diego-Baja California region. Such a goal involves not just economic linkages, but improvements in the human and physical infrastructure of the region, as well. For more information, please visit our Crossborder Innovation & Competitiveness Initiative page.

U.S Leading Index Down Slightly in April

The US Conference Board announced recently that the U.S. leading index decreased 0.1 percent, the coincident index increased 0.2 percent and the lagging index increased 0.3 percent in April.

The leading index decreased slightly in April. As a result of data revisions, the small decrease in March was revised up to a small increase. From October to April, the leading index grew 1.5 percent. This is slightly below the average six-month change (1.7 percent) in the first three months of the year. Housing permits made the largest negative contribution to the leading index in March. However, the strengths among the leading indicators have been widespread in recent months.

The coincident index continued to increase steadily as it has since September 2005. From October to April, the coincident index grew 1.7 percent and all four components contributed about equally to this growth.

After slowing down in 2005, the leading index picked up somewhat in the first four months of 2006, but it is only slightly above its level at the end of 2005. Moreover, the small gains since December have not been very persistent. The current behavior of the leading index suggests economic growth should continue moderately in the near term.

Read more here.

Conference Board of Canada: Feds Should Help Cities

Here is what Canada's leading business organization is saying about Canadian cities and their need for more help from the Canadian Federal Government:

"At this point in the debate over how best to address urban challenges, it’s safe to assume general agreement that our major cities cannot continue on their present course without compromising our quality of life and economic prosperity. Even a recent report arguing that Canadian municipalities in general should look to themselves rather than senior levels of government to solve their funding woes acknowledges that municipalities in Alberta and Ontario (which comprise nearly half of Canada’s 27 census metropolitan areas and 36 percent of its population) are special cases requiring additional taxing flexibility to make ends meet."

"The dispute over where cities should look for financial and policy relief, however, is far from settled. In light of the recent federal election, it appears that the argument might be tilting toward the “anyone-but-Ottawa” side of the debate, as the new Government promotes its vision of a decentralized and open federalism that leaves provinces more autonomous within their Constitutional spheres of jurisdiction and narrows the federal government’s role in managing the nation’s affairs."

Read more here.

Ontario Holding Its Own in Auto Investment

From the Toronto Globe and Mail:

"Ontario, by contrast, is holding its own. The province has seen a 0.5-per-centdecline in automotive jobs over the past three years, and that figure may improve with a flurry of recent announcements of new investment in Ontario. This week, Honda said it would build a $154-million engine plant in Southern Ontario. A week earlier, parts maker Linamar said it would spend $1.1-billion over the next five years to create 3,000 jobs in Ontario. Last year, Toyota announced plans to build a new assembly plant that will create 2,000 jobs. The so-called Big Three car makers -- Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler -- have also announced expansions in Ontario. In the past 2½ years, Ontario has landed more than $7-billion worth of new investments in the automotive sector."

Comment: That is pretty darn good considering the losses in many US states.

Read more here.

Wisconsin Concerned About Not Getting New Investment Deals

A recent guest article in Milwaukee Journal Sentinental bemoaned the fact that Wisconsin is not competing very well for new business investment deals. See below.

"It looks as if Wisconsin will not be in the running for the new Honda automotive assembly plant that will be built somewhere in the Midwest, and that is about par for the course for the state when it comes to recruitment of businesses. For whatever reason, Wisconsin has never done well in the competition for major new plants."

Why is that? Two reasons come to mind: 1) Wisconsin is not strategically located where foreign automotive companies need to be in the US. Look at the FDI that has occurred in the major north-south interstate corridors (especially I-75) and look at what has happened along the east-west interstate corridors along the southern rim of the U.S.; and 2) you have to give until it hurts when it comes to incentives. (On the second point: step it up, but be careful).

Read more here.