Brewed Fresh Daily

John: You jump to fast, I think. You have participated in a few too many meetings that end nowhere. Your cynicism is showing. A process means setting goals and driving toward those goals. But first, we need to listen. Listening helps build consensus toward the goals we can share. Through listening we learn to co-create value...a critical skill in a networked economy. That's what they are doing in Athens -- building the civic skills to drive toward real outcomes through collaboration. They have built a fast, reliable process of identifying opportunities and driving toward them. In short, economic development is a process that requires both open participation and leadership direction...both divergent and convergent thinking. We have to ask and answer both "What's possible?" and "What's next?" Hoping and praying for good outcomes -- while worthwhile perhaps -- is no substitute for the design of productive civic processes.