Tony IM’d me and said, “Job Churn (Startups+Failures) is significantly correlated to regional per capita growth“. He sent me a link to a site where I found this table, which paints a bleak picture especially when it comes tech jobs:

Information Technology Jobs
Employment in IT occupations in non-IT industries as a share of total jobs. rank: 29 score: 1.3%

What can we do about numbers like this? At least we’re above 21 states!

W. Dave Bayless mentions a report titled Five Myths About Entrepreneurs created by Patrick Von Bargen and his former colleagues at the National Commission on Entrepreneurship. Patrick is now with the National Center for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness and was in town for the Connection Series on Tuesday night! I heard from Valdis that he was very impressed with Mayor Campbell and the things she talked about in her speech.

It’s been brought to my attention that there’s another cool person spent some time in Cleve-O. This time it’s one of the co-founders of Adobe, Dr. Charles Geschke.

“Dubbed the ‘modern-day Gutenberg’, Dr. Charles M. Geschke helped revolutionize the desktop publishing era through Adobe Systems, the company he co-founded in 1982 with John Warnock. Without the applications Adobe developed, desktop publishing, and now Web publishing, would not be the same.”

“Geschke, like so many other key figures in computing history, did not stumble on to his success. He was well educated and had a wealth of experience in computing before founding Adobe. But, as was the case with many other notables, he benefited from some fortuitous timing.”

“Geschke was born in 1941, and he first studied at Xavier University in Ohio, earning a bachelor’s degree in classics and a master’s degree in mathematics. From 1963 to 1968, he taught mathematics at John Carroll University but decided to seek further education himself.”

A few important things about his story. He was well educated, had a wealth of experience, and benefited from fortuitous timing. Obviously, there’s no quick fixes.

I’ve added Marc Canter’s blog to my blogroll. Don’t know who Marc is? You should! He was one of the founders of Macromedia. What’s the Cleveland Connection? Oberlin Conservatory of Music with a custom degree in Intermedia in 1980. How cool is that?

From the Futurist Update, the newsletter of the World Future Society:

Shy people could become happier if they acted more outgoing, believes William Fleeson, Wake Forest University associate professor of psychology.

When study participants were asked to act outgoing, adventurous, or assertive -such as asking a question in class or flirting with someone attractive - they reported that they were having fun and felt happy, says Fleeson. When asked to act more passive and shy, the same participants reported feeling unhappy.

“As a society, we tend to think of happiness as something that comes from outside us. It’s kind of a radical idea that we have some control of happiness, that personality is a factor in happiness, and that, to some extent, we have control over our personalities,” Fleeson says. “The research demonstrates that extroversion can actually cause
happiness.”

I was carrying on a pleasant email conversation with a new RYZE friend, Mark Parr, who formerly was the director of the NW Ohio Regional Technology Alliance. He brought this information to my attention:

State Business Churning Figures (1998-2001)
The U.S economy experienced a turbulent year in 2001. However, small businesses demonstrated resilience and strength according to the Small Business Economic Indicators for 2001, a report released by the SBA Office of Advocacy. The February 2003 report states that although economic activity was sluggish in the months leading up to September 2001, economic output grew for the year as a whole.

In comparison to 2000, small businesses seemed to hold steady in 2001. The levels of employer firms and the self-employed were relatively consistent with previous year totals. While employer firm births showed a slight downward movement during the year and firm closures increased slightly, the most alarming number was the rise in business bankruptcies.

SSTI has prepared a table presenting “business churning” statistics and rankings for all 50 states and the District of Columbia over a four-year period from 1998-2001 using data from the SBA indicator report. Business churning is a measure of new firm births and existing firm deaths as a share of total firms. This churning increases as the number of new start-ups and existing business failures per year increases. Business churning is seen as a major driver of innovation and growth.

The entire table is available here.

Other state level data available in the report include the number of self-employed, business bankruptcies, and financial information. Industrial level data is provided for nonfarm private employment and the fastest and largest growing industries in 2000-2001. Other macro-level indicators for the U.S. economy are presented as well. Small Business Economic Indicators for 2001 can be downloaded here.

The root of the issue is that Ohio is almost dead last when it comes to starting new business! Why isn’t anyone addressing it?

Wow! If you weren’t at the Web Marketing Seminar that Sage and Rocky did today, then your website is falling farther and farther behind in the search engines. Too bad! You’ve got a local company that specializes in marketing your company on the net, and you’ve probably never heard of them. Not to mention they gave away some really nice coffee mugs to a few knowledgable people. I was lucky enough to be able to name a spidering search engine other than Google (oops. maybe I’m not allowed to use their name!) Just so you know, it’s AllTheWeb. Next time they put on a seminar, you darn well better go!

Check out what Jack is saying on his blog:

“Cleveland, like its sister cities of similar size and challenges around the country, is said to have a self-esteem issue. However anyone attending the last couple Connections Series events might consider otherwise. There is a critical mass of people who are daily practitioners of appreciative inquiry relative to the business, arts, spiritual, social, and ethnic communities woven into our dynamic fabric…”

There isn’t a by-line on this one, but we all know it’s Shasta! that gets the good scoops.

Tucked away in basements and hidden corners of buildings that radiate the aura of callus-causing labor typical of Cleveland’s industrial glory days are a cluster of technology and creative companies.

These companies operate independently, yet they collectively are weaving a pattern for Cleveland’s economic future and are reshaping the city’s Midtown Corridor.

Those who work at these small firms run into each other day after day in the local greasy spoons. On a busy day, they might exchange only a quick ‘how’s it going?’ when picking up their gravy fries, but there’s no need for extensive conversation. Without a word, they acknowledge an unspoken bond among fledgling companies that are dedicated to making a group of streets in Midtown into a place where creativity and capitalism thrive.

“Hundreds of thousands of antiwar activists flooded Senate phone lines yesterday as part of a “Virtual March” on Washington aimed at heading off a U.S. invasion of Iraq.”

“Protesters called and faxed senators in an innovative action, billed as a way to influence policy “without leaving your living room.” Senators enlisted extra staffers to answer calls and to tally the number of constituents registering their opinions.”

I am so jazzed about this! Not that I’m against the war. This is the power of the internet and the self organization of social networks. Communities of people used the internet to organize a protest that TOTAL SHUT DOWN THE legislative branch of the GOVERNMENT, COSTING IT SIGNIFICANTLY. It’s basically a human Distributed DENIAL OF SERVICE attack!

1) Sales driven by price

2) No way of differentiating you from your competitors

3) You use a steady stream of disconnected sales gimmicks

4) There is no unified plan for communicating your message to customers and the trade

5) Most sales leads come from the sales staff

6) Longtime customers say, “I didn’t know you did that”

7) There is no customer or prospect database that can be used for marketing.

Blogged by Geoff Thatcher on People and Places that Rock!

In the research for this best-selling business book, authors Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner set out to discover what it took to become a leader. They wanted to know the common practices of ordinary men and women when they were at their leadership best. Their analysis of thousands of cases and surveys revealed The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.

The No. 2 practice on the list: “Leaders passionately believe that they can make a difference. They envision the future, creating an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become. Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams. They breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.”

Leaders must “Inspire a Shared Vision.”

Check this out. The man, John Ettorre, posted this to the CoF email list. I’ve always wondered about Dave Lazor’s story. Here it is in black and white.

“Five years ago, my wife and I boxed our belongings, loaded them in a truck and hit the freeway. We headed east, from Portland, Ore., - a Mecca for young professionals such as ourselves - to our native Cleveland. I left a great job at one of the world’s elite technology companies, Intel, at the peak of a chip-making boom that would land its chairman, Andy Grove, on the cover of Time magazine as that year’s Man of the Year.”

“Why did we do it? We wanted to begin a family in an environment conducive to raising children. And I wanted to start my own technology consulting company. You could say I wanted to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. And somewhere in that combination of motives, I would argue, is at least the beginnings of an answer to the community’s riddle over our economic future, so ably chronicled in The Plain Dealer’s “Quiet Crisis” series.”

The Connection Series is still a blur. A blur of meeting people, talking, listening, watching the color graphics, hearing the Mayor again, just soaking it all in. It may take a while to process it all, it was such a buzz of activity!

The thing I do know is that after it all of it was over, Steve, Jason and I wandered over to Panini’s and grabbed a bite to eat. On the way over, we passed a homeless man who was spending the night on the street. He wrapped himself up in a blanket and huddled into a corner to stay warm. For all the talking and networking that went on last night at the Club at Key Center, for all the graphics and the speeches and the big ideas we have and share, the biggest thing I’ll take away, is that there are people that need us to do something, anything. There are still problems to solve, challenges to meet, obstacles to overcome, people to care for.

And I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “There but for the grace of God, go [you and] I”.

Added a new quote to the DB.

“A man is measured by the size of things that anger him.” - Geof Greenleaf

Don Iannone admonishes us to get a grip in his second Brain Drain followup. Here’s something that I’ve talked to many of my friends about:

“Most places experiencing brain drain see it as a problem impacting their economic development potential. Most believe they need to do more to improve their local environment to retain and attract people with knowledge and skills. In many ways, this is true. At the same time, we need to be sensitive to our existing talent and ensure that we offer them the same opportunities as we offer newcomers. I believe in the final analysis, the answer to this problem rests in helping everyone advance themselves and renew their knowledge and skills on a regular basis. One bit of advice: Avoid potential bidding wars that cause us to overpay for talent of any type. That is a major problem in economic development today. Don’t replicate this problem in the high-talent labor market. Do we really want to emulate the salary strategies found in professional sports or Hollywood today?

I had no idea thier Executive MBA program was ranked so high in the Financial Times ratings. It’s something we should all be proud of!

Here’s a site that a few of my friends will definitely appreciate. Atomic is an ezine devoted to retro style. I particularly like the CyberKool page with it’s link to Retro Auctions, B-Movie Guides, and all things Tiki. Not to mention all the band info! Make sure you tell Leslie what a great job she does as well.

Conversed with my Stylist last night about the David Lynch flick Mulholland Drive, which seems to cause many people hours of agony trying to come to grips with the plot. I found this GeoCities page that breaks it down fairly well. I didn’t realize that the movie was actually a pilot for a TV show that was rejected. That explains alot! If you’re kicking off a series, you don’t answer questions.

I’ll admit it, I steal shamelessly from the Cool Cleveland newsletter. But when Thomas gets his own blog, I might stop! Might. He links to this article in last weeks newsletter - THE ARTS ECONOMY: URBAN PIONEERS

I’ll be there. Will you?

Valdis Krebs has this to say about the article that ran in the PD yesterday:

“What about those of us who earned our advanced degrees outside of Ohio, and started businesses outside of Ohio, and brought all of that back home? What are our counts? Do we balance out those that left? Does anybody care?”

He’d like to know, and so would I, how many others of you out there have left and returned (or never left)? Please let me know by commenting below or sending me an email.

Mayor Campbell spoke of Larry Robinson before her address on Thursday. The article echos what she said, “He was extremely pro-Cleveland,'’ he said. “He didn’t just give money. He gave a whole bunch of his time.'’ Hopefully, his life will be an example to all of us. His absense leaves a void, we should all step up and fill it.

From It’s all about Coffee - Lingle to press White House to use local Hawaiian coffee

“As Gov. Linda Lingle makes her rounds in Washington next week, a small but significant item on her agenda is to persuade the White House to serve only Hawai’i-grown coffee to its guests.”

“Lingle, who arrived in the capital yesterday, is toting a basket with a selection of coffee grown on the Big Island, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Maui and Kaua’i along with a letter ’suggesting this would be a nice thing to do since we’re the only state in the union that grows coffee commercially,’ said Steve Bretschneider, chief marketing officer for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.”

Two things. One, I wish someone would show up at my house toting a basket of coffee. Two, it makes perfect sense to me to support U.S. business, especially coffee producers. It would definitely make this administration more productive (I’d drink tons more coffee if it was Hawaiian!).

I’ve been meaning to post comments about the Mayor of Cleveland’s, but I came across these pages, so I’d encourage you to look at them for yourselves. First, the Mayor’s speech. Second, the chart that was handed out. One of the most interesting comments Mayor Campbell made was when she evoked “Good to Great”. I hope she’s read the classic by Jim Collins!

Jack Ricchiuto links to this page on his blog. I don’t have time to read it all now, but a cursory review is enough to get back and dig into it!

From Linked by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, page 222

“After September 11, Valdis Krebs, a management consultant who normally uses network theory to analyze corporate communications, assembled a map [using his software, I might add] of the nineteen hijackers aboard the four planes involved in the attacks and the fifteen people who authorities claimed to have been connected to them. Krebs carefully entered all publicly disclosed contacts between these thirty-four individuals, weighting links based on the known closeness of the relationship. The obtained web is extremely revealing for anybody who wants to understand the inner workings of the deadly cell that carried out the attacks.”

Perhaps the future of crimefighting (sounds a bit comicbookish) will be in Social Network Analysis. The map Barabasi mentions is available on Valdis’ website along with links to related articles. In case you’re interested, Valdis is reported to be attending the Connection Series event tomorrow. Aren’t you?