Friday, October 07, 2005
Chicago and Buffalo. Two northern cities sitting on the Great Lakes.
A delegation of civic leaders from Philadelphia recently returned from a trip to Chicago. Civic leaders in Chicago impressed their Philadelphia colleagues with the aggressiveness of their thinking. Setting the appropriate to stretch goals represent one of the major challenges for economic development leaders. The Chicago leadership has developed a habit to of this type of aggressive thinking. Read more.
Contrast the situation in Chicago with the civic leadership in Buffalo. Here, wars and political controversy continued to undercut the effective development and implementation of effective economic development strategy. Without strong civic habits of collaboration, trust cannot build. And without trust, regions cannot undertake the type of aggressive investments needed to transform their economy's. Read more about Buffalo here.
It matters how civic leaders spend their time. Their conversations determine their direction.
posted by Ed Morrison |
links
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber:
Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Comparing Chicago and Buffalo
