Good Morning! Here is your Curated Morning for February 9, 2023!
THE TOP FIVE
ONE-- Economic Development
Small business is the lifeblood of the American economy. Microbusinesses are identified as businesses that employ less than five people. According to this opinion piece, over 93 percent of all businesses are classified as micro-businesses, making up 41.3 million jobs and having a $5 trillion impact. The author of this opinion piece provides five solutions that would bolster micro-business enterprises and further economic development. You can read the article here.
TWO—Technology
The big thing in technology isn't crypto. Nope. Some things are impacting the technology landscape, and they are all interrelated. They may affect cryptotechnology in the future, and hopefully, they will be optimistic as recent news hasn't been good. The six areas identified as top tech trends in 2022 that will continue to grow in 2023 range from the metaverse to increased cloud usage to quantum computing and AI. Read about these trends in this article.
THREE—Green Economy
I have toured recycling operations. It is impressive how they can separate all the different types of material that goes the recycling companies that use the material again. Oh, wait…not all of this gets recycled? Yes, that is right. Not all the plastics and things you put in the blue bin that your locality picks up get recycled. Read this excellent story in National Geographic on how most of our plastic is not recycled. You can find it here.
FOUR—Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
As our economy changes and the concept of the middle class continually erodes, we will see more and more conversations and debates regarding a guaranteed income for those who are less than able to provide for themselves, even with a social safety net. A guaranteed income is need-based and supplemental to existing programs. Is this a good idea? Issues like this can polarize a community, but it helps to understand how a program like this might work. The author of this article provides the reader with ten steps to making a guaranteed income program work. You can read it here.
FIVE—Being Your Best
Why is the sky blue? Have you ever had a kid ask you that question? Of course, you knew the answer, right? We asked many questions when we were kids. This is how we learned. This is how we were able to grow. However, somewhere as we mature, we are taught not to ask so many questions, or other conditions within our environment cause us to shut down our curiosity. The author of this article challenges us to counter the inclination to avoid asking questions. Questioning, particularly the right questions, can lead us to many surprising and excellent outcomes. Read the article here.
The Main Thing :
One of the professional economic developers' primary responsibilities is attracting new companies to their jurisdiction. Working with the site selection industry is one way to do this. At the end of the last year, Development Counsellors International (DCI) and the Site Selectors Guild (SSG) put out a research document called The 2022 The State of Site Selection. This publication should be on every economic developer's shelf as it provides in great detail what site selectors are thinking, predicting, and needing (from EDOs').
The guide is based on a survey conducted by DCI. It covers workforce, risk mitigation, real estate, and ESG and how those factors affect locating new facilities, especially in the United States and North America.
At the most recent IEDC conference in Tucson, I attended a plenary panel session centered around this report. It featured four top site selectors and was moderated by Andy Levine of DCI.
I took the liberty to take notes and summarize the comments made by the site selectors, which you can read here. They echoed much of what was said in the report.
This Week's Blog :
The third installment of my five-part series, "The First Ninety Days," is available on my blog. When getting that first big job, the first ninety days is your honeymoon period. This series describes steps you can take to ensure that the first ninety days get you off to a great start.
This post deals with establishing core values—the core values of your organization are the foundation of the "house" you are building. The goals, objectives, tactics, and activities that follow are the pretty things that make your house look good. With that strong foundation, you can be an effective leader.
Read about establishing those core values and starting your new job with a bang here.
Overheard :
“The race starts today,”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
In reference to Microsoft's announcement of its AI product Prometheus.
"Prometheus is reaching out for the stars with an empty grin on his face. "
Arthur Koestler
Something to Watch
One of the interesting facts I have learned writing this newsletter is how little of our plastics get recycled. We put many things in the blue bin, but much goes to the landfill.
I found this exciting docuseries being produced by Bloomberg about this very fact. Actor Kal Penn hosts the series; the first episode is out now. Check out the status of plastics recycling today by watching this video.
You can find it here.
Something to read:
I am still looking for a way to get a newsletter article available to the readers of CM, as it is an excellent post about how climate change presents itself as an opportunity for businesses and communities. I will provide the link below, a bit here is the passage that is most important to highlighting by me:
"Things are so rosy for the green industry in the United States that the European Union feels left out. It is miffed that many of the IRA's tax breaks and subsidies apply only to American-made products, tempting European companies to open operations here. And so now the EU has its own take on the Inflation Reduction Act: Last week, the European Commission proposed a "Green Deal Industrial Plan." The plan includes $240 billion in loans and $21 billion in grants from EU coffers to subsidize green businesses, a relaxation of state-aid rules to allow member countries to offer subsidies, job training, faster permitting for "clean technology" projects, and measures to ensure access to "critical raw materials," such as the lithium used in many electric-vehicle batteries. This week, economy ministers from Germany and France are in Washington, D.C., hoping to persuade the U.S. to allow EU-made electric cars and batteries to qualify for subsidies.
All of this squabbling suggests that many world leaders now see the energy transition as not only inevitable but lucrative—a source of prosperity and jobs. This "race to the top" approach to tackling climate change is new, according to Jessie Jenkins, an energy-policy researcher at Princeton. "For decades, the climate challenge has been framed as a collective-action problem," he told me, "a tragedy of the commons that demanded shared sacrifice." Now, instead of requiring sacrifice, fixing the climate is seen as having "significant economic, security, and geostrategic benefits." Global investment in decarbonization surpassed $1 trillion in 2022—on par, for the first time, with investments in fossil fuels. For longtime observers of international climate policy, the shift feels seismic. Watching countries jockey for position in industries that were once considered niche sideshows is "thrilling," Alice Hill, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me."
Here is the link to the article in the Atlantic Magazine. You don't need to be a subscriber to read a few articles a month, so some of you can read the entire article.
You can also subscribe to the newsletter. You don't need a subscription to read "Weekly Planet." Here is the link to The Atlantic's newsletter page.
Whenever you’re ready, there are several ways I can help you:
1. Economic Development; If you are looking to supercharge your economic development organization I can help by strategizing and developing a roadmap to success. Set up. a time to talk to me here.
2. Climate Change Economics; There is so much going on in this space and I can help you sort through it. Are you ready to develop a plan. or just need some coaching? Set up some time to talk about it here.
3. Training and Coaching; I can train you and your team on high level productivity tools to get you into flow. Mindset, GRIT and flow come together in these sessions or through one-on-one meetings. Let's talk about your needs here.
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Thanks for reading the Curated Morning.