Next week, we are launching a new venture, based on a web platform developed by Near-Time, a venture backed company based in Research Triangle. Strategy-Nets combines the disciplines of Strategy Doing with the power and ease of use of the Near-Time platform. Near-Time is a partner in our new venture.

Here are some examples of how people are using the platform.

Minnesota Renewable Energy Marketplace: http://www.mnrem.org/wiki

Milwaukee 7 Water Council: http://www.milwaukee7-watercouncil.com/wiki/show/Main

We have dozens of other applications, as well. The Internet platform is important because collaboration in loosely joined open networks requires both open participation and leadership direction. No single Web 2.0 technology (or, if you prefer, social media)is right for collaboration in all circumstances.

Rather, you need a tightly integrated platform that is both open (no lock-in), easy to use, has flexible roles and permissions, and can “manage” the knowledge as it accumulates.

Strategic Doing is a discipline I started to develop at Case Western Reserve, and I have continued to develop at Purdue. (It’s the primary reason they invited me to join the Center for Regional Development.)

Strategic Doing is a simple discipline (but not easy). Like any discipline — from piano playing to hitting a tennis ball — some people have innate ability. But anyone can develop the skill with practice.

Strategic Doing is the discipline of moving a loosely joined network of people toward transformation of a complex system by thinking and acting strategically. The strategies involve aligning, linking and leveraging the assets embedded in the network.

You can see Strategic Doing in action on a channel on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/channels/strategicdoing

You can download a white paper (and other stuff) from this page:

http://drop.io/edmorrison

To transform a regional economy, you need to be able to accomplish some very complex initiatives by following some simple rules. Strategic Doing shows you how.

In regards to the Sustainability Summit, I agree with the mediocre (at best) web presence, though I believe it may have been just a placeholder. As I understand it, a new web platform is in the works as one product of a Dec meeting by one of the Summit’s committees.

Thanks again for all the relevant examples. Furthermore, I’d like to learn more about how ‘Strategic Doing’ could best be utilized to implement many of the ideas that resulted from either the 09 Summit or the various public committees.

You ask some important questions. Here are some thoughts. First, it’s probably not a good idea to try to find a single solution to “fix” the problem.

Cleveland’s Civic leadership has a long-standing reputation for insularity and arrogance, and these traits are not really fixable. (If you doubt my characterization, simply travel the Youngstown or Akron. Recently, Akron’s mayor joked that he tells people this city is located 100 miles north of Columbus.)

Instead, it’s time if focus on a new civic dynamic. Here are some suggestions on where to start:

1. Build new online connections. People interested in changing the dynamic within Cleveland should, paradoxically, be looking for ways to connect outside Cleveland. I am familiar with four communities — Lorain, Akron, Youngstown and Milwaukee — that each have interesting initiatives underway that could benefit Cleveland. Building shared web spaces or weblogs is a good way to explore connections and how new ideas for transformation can be translated into action. Each of these four cities seems to do a better job in Cleveland. If you are interested in names, I will make e-mail introductions.

Here’s an example of how Akron is re-imagining its downtown: University Park plans speaker series

2. Build off the Sustainability Summit. This promising initiative seems already to be losing some steam. I may be wrong about that, but it’s difficult to tell because the web presence of the Sustainability Summit is weak. Building a stronger web presence and a clear focus on the strategic agenda would help build these networks.

A number of cities are providing good models to follow. Austin, Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneapolis are good places to start. Check out some rankings here.

At the same time, Cleveland should not underestimate its own sustainability resources. I travel the country, and it is rare to find people like Holly Harlan and David Beach, who have a deep understanding of sustainability issues. Cleveland is also home to Valdis Krebs, an internationally recognized expert in social network analysis; Jim Gilmore, an expert in new approaches to the “experience economy”; and David Cooperrider, the founder of Appreciative Inquiry.

3. Launch a creative city network in Cleveland. The city has a lot of cultural assets, but they’ve never really been focused as part of an economic development agenda. Again, they’re good models to follow. Places like Toronto, Brisbane, in Vienna all our building economic development strategies around their creative industries. These strategies include new business development, new career pathways, and strong internal marketing campaigns.

4. Take ownership of the public square. Use a makeover of Public Square is both a symbolic and real effort to rebuild the civic dialogue within Cleveland. Build up the existing network of organizations focused on Public Square and outline a clear process for picking among the three scenarios and then charting a path way to translating these ideas into specific investments.

5. Reach out to Chris Thompson at the Fund for Our Economic Future. The Fund has suffered a major blow with the near complete withdrawal of funds by the Cleveland Foundation. The philanthropic collaboration still makes sense, but it is no longer the epicenter of regional strategy. To remain relevant, the Fund will have to reshape its strategy. My experience tells me that the Fund has about a six-month window to reposition itself. After that, I suspect, if no other strategy emerges, members of the fund will begin just to drift off. Chris Thompson of the Fund has been working hard to establish regional networks.

Is it trying to get the right people to run for key political offices?

Or do we need to push private strategy forums on the current leadership?

Or is there something else that can be done?

Cleveland has some very competent professionals in place. But the large policy decisions being led by the Greater Cleveland Partnership have been as goofy as any I’ve seen in 25 years of doing regional economic development across the country.

Our current leadership caste know how to do one thing: capture public dollars to promote private development, and even at that they seem to have hit a wall.

Our “civic leaders” need to find a way to shift from pushing money around among an insular group of non-profit players and actually DO something. The Age Of The Facilitator (and The Fixer) may be coming to a close.

I fear our current crop cannot collaborate themselves out of the hole they’ve dug themselves into, because doing so requires genuine vision and genuine collaboration.

The people are the problem. The “process” they’ve sworn by for 20 years is broken. Some folks need to lose their cushy jobs…