Chris Varley on design-oriented MBAs:

With the Cleveland Institute of Art right next door, the possibilities are extremely exciting–CIA students have long turned to Case for their “non-design” courses. If Weatherhead is serious about make design a central tenent of how they teach management, then the school may well be able to carve out an exciting and necessary niche for itself in a degree program that has been showing signs of weakness and age at all schools that offer the traditional MBA degree….

Tech Futures » Blog Archive » Designing the Future

Mike Sutyak shares his dialog with Thomas Mulready:

The gist of our conversation: it’s all in the writing. There is value in design, after all it’s part of the message. The story you tell determines whether or not they’ll stick around though.

That’s right, I said story.

Give the reader a chance to identify with what you’re saying by giving them meaning. Blathering off facts and whatnot tends to turn people off. Giving them a chance to say “Hey, I can relate to that, I’ve been there”, will grab and hold their attention.

Thomas’ presentation was fascinating and it was great to hear his story. I was personally engaged because I could identify with parts of it. It’s also satisfying to hear a consummate professional take the time to tell that story…

Thomas Mulready of CoolCleveland.com - Blogs, Pods and Vods Oh My! : Mike Sutyak

Check out Kyle’s opinion on TravelCleveland.com & ClevelandPlus.com:

So this is where people coming in from out of state are supposed to turn to for information on Cleveland? With all of the publicity around the NBA Finals, it really points out the fact that Cleveland lacks a tourism presence online.

Cleveland+… I didn’t jump on the bashing bandwagon because I wanted to see what would become of it first. Now, after the big launch of the next Cleveland marketing campaign, I can offer my criticism. Now, it is apparent that launching a “campaign” should include a good resource online for people to find out what is going on around Cleveland, events, attractions, interactive maps, maybe even a social network based upon the region. But no, we just have TravelCleveland.com which has a lot of information but is not well integrated between events, attractions and maps. Then there is cleveland.com’s version of toursim. Hopefully Cleveland+ addresses this issue…

Northcoast Lifestyle : Interactive Life of Kyle Roth, Interactive Web Designer, Cleveland Ohio

I wonder why the building can’t be saved, but I’ve got a slightly different take on this than anyone else I’ve heard, be it protester or politician: offer its space up RENT FREE to companies who want to relocate their world headquarters to Cleveland for a lengthy period of time. Like, say, 10 years. Got yer attention? Now hear me out. We’ve got this new brand Cleveland Plus (or “+” as it sometimes likes to call itself). Wanna give that plan some real teeth? Launch a contest to subsidize rent for a mid-level company (or a handful of smaller ones) and have them relocate to Breuer Tower.

Can you even comprehend the overhead a mid-level company has? Imagine taking the rent out of the equation for them for a decade! Or an upstart company that is rocking hard, or a mid-level that needs a push financially to ‘’get them'’ to Fortune 500 or 1000 status? Talk about a business incubator! Why isn’t ‘’this'’ being considered a legitimate opportunity for the building? Cleveland would win them over once they were here. Those commissioners, “the Plus” and the “Tech Czar,” Michael DeAloia, could be on the phone with some of those hi-tech companies ‘’right now'’, trying to cinch a deal.

Offer it to Google/YouTube. Quicken Loans. Progressive Insurance. Motorola. Intel. Bank of America. Virgin. Or some of the larger regional companies that might be thinking of leaving for more fertile ground. Or how about some of the “on-the-cusp” tech, biotech and renewable energy companies out there? There are no green energy companies (solar, water, wind) here in Cleveland that I’m aware of. Why not here? If we think wind turbines on the lake are a smart investment in our future, maybe a wind company anchored here in town is as well…?

Click here to read the full story on CoolCleveland.com by Peter Chakerian

Thanks to Norm Roulet for the beautiful photo.

Maybe a delegation from NorTech and FFEF should go visit the Triad.

The Triad region of North Carolina is continuing to build a cluster around creative design businesses. The latest move: The Creativity & Design Interconnect. Read more. Visit the web site.