Thinking The Box

Train Warnings

2011-10-06T12:23:00.000-04:00

I live in an inner ring suburb of Cleveland, yet still hear train horns day and night. The train warnings given when crossing auto roads remains a most appealing and comforting noise. Part of it could be that it is a haunting sound in the distance but it also represents stories in my life.

It probably starts with going to the various train stations in Cleveland to pick up my grandmother who traveled by rail from eastern Pennsylvania. We also traveled by train to eastern Massachusetts to visit my cousins. Traveling east by car for vacations or holidays before the time of interstates, many of the highways followed along train tracks. When you are nearby a moving train especially when you are standing alongside the tracks, the thunder and awe of the tons of mechanical beast takes ones breath away. I also have traveled to both coasts by trains following pathways long established, going to New York City to partake of the activities of that metropolis and going to Chicago and San Francisco.

Trains represent so much in Cleveland, from the manufacturing of the steel and component parts , the manufacturing and repair of the engines, the various railway track lines that intermingled through northeast Ohio. They represent all of the manufacturing that takes place here and that Cleveland is on the pathway to and from many centers of industry in its location as the southern terminus of the Great Lakes. Trains and their tracks also represent the physical connectedness of the country. I look forward to my next train trip. I also take a moment to enjoy the train warning that I hear being blown in to my neighborhood.

Help the Economy: Buy More, Have a Baby

2010-09-13T09:42:00.000-04:00

Growing the U.S. economy boils down to depending upon more people buying more stuff.

The economy, in order to grow, needs to have more purchases. To do my part in helping I need to buy more. If each one of us doesn't buy more, then there needs to be more of us. So we are encouraged to have more babies, allow more immigrants, and live longer. If the US population doesn't increase then we depend on the rest of the world to increase in size and desire. If you don't or can't participate then encourage your friends and neighbors to get busy buying and/or having productive sex.

In order to afford to buy more, we need to make more money by producing more goods and services and then sell those to more people.

Manufacturers help people buy more by building in obsolescence or by using marketing to sell stuff not really needed. Politicians help by mandating projects or practices that require spending. Then there is the whole idea to get everyone in the US to buy US goods only and in other countries to also buy US goods and services at the expense of not buying from their own countries.

Out of the Corner of My Eye (fragment)

2010-08-24T22:00:00.000-04:00

Out of the corner of my eye
I caught the movement going by.
Did I really see it?
I heard a whisper on the wind,
Or was it just my breath?
I felt the touch on my arm,
It could have been the sun.

Don't Throw Stones to Break More Windows

2009-12-22T12:08:00.000-05:00

We live in communities in which there are problems perceived and actual. How we respond to those problems reflect on us as citizens. We have choices.

All communities have positive characteristics as well negative. We can choose to do nothing, we can choose to exacerbate the negative, we can work to accentuate the positive, we can work to improve upon the negative, or we can do some combination of any of these.

Recently a fiend of mine wrote a blog commenting on the public relations problem on the community in which both of us live. Repeating others’ disparaging remarks does not add to the conversation. And repeating remarks that are untrue does not build respect and trust and actually damages those virtues. People strike out in response to anger, strikes which are often misdirected. Paint the trim, pick up the trash, work with others, or go elsewhere; but don’t throw stones to break more windows.

The community which was being written about was Cleveland Heights, Ohio. I do not feel unsafe in Cleveland Heights. However, I would not go into a bar off the main strip which seems to tolerate misbehavior. The Cedar-Lee neighborhood has not been taken over by thugs. Cleveland Heights is not the most deteriorated suburb. The Coventry neighborhood survived the removal of the liquor license of Irv’s when that establishment refused to work with the community and allowed serious misbehavior by its clientele. Maybe that is an option to examine here.

Yes, it is frustrating to get a parking ticket but you might as well go to any parking garage and try to sneak out without paying and see what happens. The benefits of going to Nighttown restaurant or the Cedar Lee movie theater and participating in the excitement of a vibrant community are worth paying the meal tab, the price of admission, and a few coins for parking. Not everybody gets a speeding ticket or a parking ticket, only those people who get caught disobeying the law. There are reasons for speed laws and, if you don’t want a speeding ticket, don’t speed. There are certain intersections where it is unsafe to make a left turn during rush hour and often disruptive. There are work arounds to those intersections but it might take add extra 15 seconds to your drive.

Any negative publicity is a public relations problem. Not all public relation problems of a city need to be responded to vociferously but rather by keep doing well those things that one does well, supporting a caring and vibrant community of residents, businesses and visitors.

Good Money, Bad Money, Neutral Money

2009-10-20T11:34:00.001-04:00

Every day each one of us buys goods or services from a business. Whether it is electricity, water, groceries, gasoline, meals, or cell phone we have made arrangements for a transfer of our assets to someone else. We all make decisions on the spending of our money, whom do we buy from and is it a want or a need. That decision on where to spend our money may or may not be based on a conscious process but we do need to learn how to think strategically in that decision.

Sometimes it is a decision based on convenience (I don’t have time so I’ll just get something to go from a fast food restaurant), on monopoly (There is only one municipal water provider), on social conscience (As much as possible, I’ll buy from the local farmers’ market), sometimes it is habit (I have always owned Fords), and sometimes its price (It is less expensive for me to get the product from Home Depot).

We can buy from a locally located Fortune 500 company, from a locally owned franchise, from an outside large corporation but with local factories. We can buy from a locally owned retail store that buys locally manufactured goods, we can buy from a locally owned business that imports all of its merchandise. We can buy locally grown or manufactured goods or we can buy goods that are shipped in from miles or continents away. We also can limit the amount of goods we buy to meet our wants. We can change our behaviors so as to reduce our needs.

However we do need to think about what happens to the money we spend. Most of the time there are local employees who receive pay and spend the money on their own needs. The profits are something else. That depends on whether or not the business is owned locally. A large Fortune 500 business may be local but the profits while going to the headquarters here, there is a distribution of money outside the community. Some large businesses distribute monies supporting activities in each community in which they have a presence so as to give back something to those that support them.

There are local businesses which while making money locally, are also involved in businesses outside of the community in which they use the profits from the local activities. Sometimes your own community is the beneficiary of investment by entities from outside of the region. Often there are businesses in your community which sell to people from outside of your region.

Money which comes from outside of your community and is reinvested and spent in your region is good for your region. Money which comes from your community and is spent outside of your region is not good for your region. Money which is earned and spent within the region is somewhat neutral.

Our goal in Economic Development is to increase the good money (money flowing in), decrease the bad money (money flowing out), and increase the speed of the neutral money (money earned and spent locally). This applies whether the region you are talking about is your own family, neighborhood, region, state, or country. The concept is not new but many do not think in these simple terms (simple but not easy).

Where did you spend your money this week?

Fear

2009-09-04T13:27:00.004-04:00

One of the greatest obstacles for us in moving through life is dealing with fear. We fear our government that might take away rights, force us to pay for something we don’t want, and make us do things we don’t want to do. We fear those who are different from us, who might invade our space, take what we feel belongs to us, and make us uncomfortable. We fear ourselves that our bodies get old and not work as well, our minds lose grasp of thoughts, and we lose the ability to control our environment as much as we would like. We fear that in our communities we will be not taken care of, will be disrespected,and will be forgotten.

So we spend a great deal of time, energy, and money dealing with our fears. We let our fears control us and our relationships with others. Our fears create an isolationism within us. They create a failure to behave in ways that create trust and respect. Our fears compound themselves in us and in others around us.

The fears will always exist but it is in how we acknowledge them, limit them, and use them for positive movement that we are able survive and to grow and sustain community. It is not that we look to others to control our fears for us or that we control others' fears ourselves. Rather than being driven by fear we need to live by a caring relationship with all around us. Our greatest gift is for us to work with others as both a local and a world community to support each other day by day and work together to lessen the grip of fear.

I'll Know When I Get There

2009-07-17T23:27:00.002-04:00

When one puts together a 1,600 mile road trip west there is a certain amount of planning that needs to take place beforehand. How much depends upon your style. One can go with a full strategic plan, one can think strategically, or one can just head west and figure out where you are when you get there.

I am transporting some family belongings handed down from my parents to my siblings who all live in various towns spread out in Colorado. With a bit of free time and a need to get this move done sooner rather than later I made a decision to do the move myself rather than hiring a moving company. In a previous life I had some experience in packing and short distance moving. I have never driven across the country further than Minnesota and I have a desire to see how towns are doing economically between here and there.

The truck rental place allows for six days and 1,600 miles so those were the parameters of my travels. I have one brother who lives in Longmont, one brother who lives in Beulah, west of Pueblo, and a sister who lives in between in Littleton. I asked and was turned down for travel companionship by both my wife and daughter; my wife because she done that drive before and did not look forward to doing it again, my daughter because she is just graduated from college and back from a month of house rehab and construction in Kentucky and is starting a new job shortly. So I made a decision to do it alone splitting the twenty hour drive up over four days.

I got some maps and figured on not driving on the interstate perhaps driving on the Lincoln Highway (US30) but no pathway certain. I filled up an MP3 player with great tunes and got a few books on tape. I got new batteries for my camera and planned to post somewhere. As I do not have a smart phone I planned on taking my computer with an air card.

Luckily I didn't complete a strategic plan as my sister arranged for my nephew to accompany me, which is actually something good, not having to do it alone. My nephew is a new history/math teacher and crew coach and is in a job search in the Washington DC area and looks to be an interesting travel companion. However, he seems to be into deeper planning than I am.

We shall see.

Travels

2009-07-16T18:15:00.002-04:00

I am putting together a drive from Cleveland to Colorado with a truck load of furniture. On the surface it all sounds rather long and boring and not much to it other than having to drive all that way. Yes, it is more than twenty-one hours by car but I am driving a seventeen foot long truck.

The furniture that I am delivering is from my parents' two bedroom apartment which had already been downsized from a large house. I am delivering much of the contents to my siblings who all live in various towns in Colorado, many hours apart. Both of my parents died January 2008 about two weeks apart. My father was 94 and my mother was 91. So the transport represents the dissolution of physical aspects of a 66 year marriage. Perhaps there is some sub-conscious baggage that goes with that.

My father was not willing to part with most of his books when they first moved so many went into the apartment and some went into storage. When they died all of it went into storage, four lockers worth mostly because it had to be spread out to be appraised. Then all of the siblings had to decide who wanted which items which is not the easiest thing to do. We all could afford to buy new items if we wanted but generally we all had houses filled with things. However, these were the items of furniture that we grew up with. Some had been constructed by our ancestors over 150 years ago, some were pieces purchased cheaply to fill an immediate need but were never upgraded. Some had greater monetary value, some little value. Many had some sentimental attachment. So there is some baggage that goes with that.

There are four of us and I am the younger middle child, but as the only sibling in town and the executor the task of distribution fell to me. As an administrator I was perhaps a little more intense than many although my style is somewhat laid back. There were days when I did get tired of handling the process but persevered. This transport is moving towards the end of the process and there are feelings that exist behind that end.

So, on Tuesday, I drive west. I will have plenty of time to think and perhaps to write about my travels.

Rules as Commands vs Rules as Guidelines

2009-07-05T18:33:00.002-04:00

I believe that we should rethink any action that leads to new rigid rules. It isn’t whether or not there are rules; it is how rules are written. Rules should be less commands and more guidelines for collaborative behavior. Always again, the Golden Rule. The fewer commanding rules the more we rely on ourselves as community to provide for safety and security.

How can our community guidelines lead us to accountability, collaborative behavior, and transparency?

How can we move away from controlling behavior into leveraging, guiding, and linking behavior?

Citizens Agenda for Cleveland Heights

2009-06-18T12:50:00.004-04:00

I recently received the following forwarded email from a community colleague of a call to action in Cleveland Heights. Its worthwhile here in the Heights as well as in communities elsewhere.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

In anticipation of the upcoming Cleveland Heights City Council election, a group of concerned citizens, including me, came together to discuss how to promote strong leadership and citizen involvement. There are four seats up for election. Three incumbents are seeking reelection and approximately 7 others have indicated possible interest in running.

Over a period of weeks we developed a position statement we call the Citizen’s Agenda that reflects the need for fresh leadership to address the pressing issues facing our community. We hope this effort will attract a wide range of candidates—young and old, new and long-term residents, and people from across the rich ethnic and racial diversity of our community.

We see three purposes to this statement and hope you will pursue them with us:

1. Create a dialogue across Cleveland Heights about our future and the type of leadership we need at City Hall,
2. Identify strong candidates who reflect this statement and are willing to run for election,
3. Organize support for such candidates and ultimately get them elected.

We have named the group Step It Up with the tag line, Leadership for a great Cleveland Heights to express our intent. As a starter, would you please take the time to review the attached “Citizen’s Agenda” and consider adding your name as a supporter? If you're willing to have your name used publicly as a supporter, please indicate in a response to this email. Include your address and phone number, as well.

We need to complete our list of names by JUNE 25th in order to go public with the document and use it to generate even greater citizen interest and involvement in the upcoming election. As a first step, there will be an article introducing Step It Up in the next edition of the Heights Observer. The article will include the Agenda and the names of all signers to date, thus our June 25th deadline. We will also host a public forum, Thursday, July 16th to present the Agenda to the community and to invite discussion and broad participation. Details of location and time will follow. Other initiatives are planned. Stay tuned.

Finally, feel free to forward the Agenda to any other CH residents you feel would be interested. They can respond to you (for you to forward to me) or to me directly at mazie.adams at gmail.com or by mail to 1285 Inglewood Drive, 44121, to indicate their wish to be listed as a supporter.

Thanks.

Mazie

HERE IS THE STATEMENT:

Step It Up

Leadership for a great Cleveland Heights

A Citizen’s Agenda for Elected Leadership in Cleveland Heights – Join Us!

As proud residents of Cleveland Heights we value our city government and the substantial contribution it makes to the quality of life in our community. The November 2009 city council election is an important opportunity for us, the citizens of Cleveland Heights, to shape our city’s future. We are looking for city council candidates who will seek out and embrace new ideas and carry out the changes necessary to ensure that Cleveland Heights is the best suburb in the nation.

Cleveland Heights needs leaders who will approach issues in ways that will:

* Capitalize on the ideas and expertise of our talented and diverse citizens, businesses and nonprofits to develop creative solutions to demanding issues.

* Work across city boundaries and regionally to confront shared challenges.

* Work in partnership with our public schools and neighborhoods to strengthen our city and guide it into the future.

Cleveland Heights needs leaders who will take on the tough issues and promote the big ideas that will lead to an exciting future. They must be willing to:

1. Establish a vision for our city as a 21st century suburb that includes financial and environmental sustainability.

2. Advocate for and actively promote the City's support of the CH-UH Schools as a major community asset and means to attract families to move to Cleveland Heights.

3. Set social and economic development goals for the next decade and formulate a strategic plan to achieve them.

4. Work collaboratively with all sectors of the community to create effective responses to the housing crisis that will convert vacant and deteriorating property into positive resources for our city.

5. Actively engage all residents and promote policies that continue and strengthen the rich diversity that we value in our community.

In summary, we are seeking city leaders who will genuinely engage our citizens to create new solutions and ignite our confidence in the possibilities that lie ahead for Cleveland Heights. We are looking for candidates to inspire, unite and mobilize our residents to shape an exceptional future.

Call to Action to the Citizens of Cleveland Heights:

If this citizen’s agenda resonates with you, we ask that you sign on as a supporter of our statement. The goal is to solicit broad citizen participation, then use this agenda to search for, support and elect candidates who will best meet the expectations set forth. Your involvement will help do that!

Signed: Mazie Adams, Russell Berusch, Lindy Burt, Gina Cheverine, Mark Chupp, Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig, Sheldon Glave, Susie Kaeser, Jeff Smith, Diana Woodbridge

Listen and Be Passionate

2009-05-26T06:44:00.002-04:00

In business and in life most of us want to to be told what to do. We wait for our bosses to tell us what to do. We wait for our leaders to tell us what to do. We wait for our consultants to tell us what to do. We wait for our computers and televisions to tell us what to do. In this way we lessen our accountability for failure. We stroke the egos of those who are self selected to lead rather than following the examples and best practices of those who have demonstrated the behaviors that move the community forward.

What occurs is that we also lessen our ability to succeed. We have lost our passion. We become satisfied with five and ten percent growth when what could be occurring is five and tenfold growth. That growth is needed to counter when growth cycles slow in other areas in the community.

Waiting to be told leaves us dependent on others. There is a large difference between being told and listening. In listening we are accountable for what we actually do. We make a leap of faith in how we behave, in what we do, in whom we trust. We become passionate in what we do and we grow every day. We need to listen to the stories. We need to behave in ways that build trust. We need to relate our own passions to those that listen.

Don't wait to be told. Don't ask to be told. Listen from within to what you are called to do and do it. Be passionate and follow your own lead.

Footprint Tradeoff

2009-01-12T13:29:00.002-05:00

In a recent Midtown Brews conversation there was talk about the reduction of land that is not covered/paved over. When a new store is built on uncovered land and a new parking lot is paved onto land formerly covered by vegetation we lose places where water is filtered and seeps into the water table, places that keep water runoff from building into eroding rivers.

Perhaps communities that are into building new businesses or acquiring existing businesses from other communities can make an effort to help the greater region by reclaiming land for green space foot for square foot when new construction takes place. That reclamation does not need to take place within their own community but can be made within another community that may not be able to afford to raze that abandoned drugstore or factory. Suburbs with their new malls can pay for the reclamation of land in the inner city.

Given that this practice would require no net gain in covered/paved space, there would be pressure to be more efficient in footprint usage. There would be more apartments and townhouses and fewer mansions, more parking garages and fewer parking lots, more live/work space and less retail strips.

Diminished Thought

2009-01-06T23:08:00.001-05:00

Reaching into the brain
Searching for the connections that fail to appear,
Knowing of another night to come
Where sleep is fleeting and all too brief.

Avoiding the conversations that overtaxes what remains,
Drugs not being an option,
Rest seemingly the only hope.
Another day passes with no progress and much more falling behind.

Between the unavoidable interference,
Savoring the freedom,
Catching one’s breath,
Building strength for the next demand.

The physical and mental pain taking its toll.
Worry, fear not allowed to show their shadows.
Ever there being the hopeful expectation
That tomorrow will not be marred by diminished thought.

Do You Know Someone Who is Out of Work?

2008-12-11T14:28:00.004-05:00

Do you know someone who is out of work? Take them out for some coffee and conversation. Introduce them to someone new. Let them know that you are there for support if needed. They do need get off the computer occasionally, get out of their houses, and talk to people who are not in the world of job searching, desperation, and depression, but rather are caring and listening.

You don’t always have to give them a network connection but if they ask, do so. Think about the times you met with coworkers and other employed friends and the pleasure you got from your interaction. Many unemployed have been disconnected from that resource and need to be offered that opportunity. You may be there at some point in your life.

Harnessing the Energy of Fear

2008-11-25T10:25:00.002-05:00

The more we create and participate in trusted networks the better we are able to deal with the uncertainties and fear in our lives. Fear will destroy a community unless there is a way to harness that energy and move the community forward rather than backward.

One major problem that we all face is that there are those among us who harness the energy of fear but, rather than doing so to move us forward, doing so to create greater fear and more power to their own agenda. Many in the media are particularly good at expanding negative behavior as it exposes more to their paid advertising. There are politicians who are good at pandering to the fear so as to create support for their misguided agenda.

We need to be able to turn to trusted voices, share our concerns, and work through our feelings. In time of fear and economic woe, all of us, especially our leaders, need to help guide the conversations forward and dissipate the buildup of bile that poisons us all.

Our Money vs. Government Money

2008-11-23T20:52:00.004-05:00

Once we give our tax money to the government it is no longer our money, it is the government’s money. That is what we as a community have decided through our laws by us and by our elected leaders. To believe otherwise guides us into behaving in ways that do not move us forward. to believe in that way leads me to argue that a government employee must behave in a certain way because I pay her salary or that I get to decided which policies and laws I can skirt because I pay lots of money to a government or person in the government.

Now, it is our government and they are our politicians, our elected leaders. How they behave is not controlled by us, but rather guided by us. If they do not seem to being doing whats best for the community they represent whether through incompetence, malfeasance, or through any other sort of misguided reasoning, then we need to make change to someone who inspires hope and encourages our voices to be heard.

The more open communication there is, the more likely informed decisions will be made. Remember that our government is a republic, not a democracy, we depend upon our politicians to make the best decision for us, not the decision that the majority of us want at a given time, not the decision that the person who will give them the most money or goods wants at a given time, and not the decision that is most likely to get them reelected.

And as citizens in a community it is up to us to speak our ideas and to be appreciative listeners in community so as to help guide our leaders and ourselves into making the best informed decisions. In order for a community to be sustainable there must be ongoing open conversation and sharing of ideas in all sorts of venues: in coffee shops, beauty parlors, grocery markets, libraries, schools, colleges, and on and on. There need to be ongoing civic gatherings where there is guided conversation. We need to listen, think, and talk in ways that move activity forward.

Voting

2008-11-04T10:23:00.002-05:00

I voted today. It was voting day and I decided I was not going to vote absentee and I was not going to go downtown to election headquarters to vote early. I investigated the issues and the judges and the other candidates and listened to a lot of the talking heads. I don’t think I changed my mind on anything in the last three weeks but I can better explain to myself why I voted the way I did.

It was great to get up and get to the polls early seeing my neighbors doing the same. We were all there being accountable for our citizenship. There was excitement even before that first cup of coffee.

The line when I got there was out the door to the street but within fifteen minutes I was voting. The PTA did have a coffee cart outside to service the line but as the line dissipated before I finished the cart was back inside. I had gone on line last week and gotten a copy of the ballot so there were no surprises. It took five minutes to properly blacken all the appropriate ovals and then feed the ballot through the scanner.

I did get coffee and a Bialy bagel (If it’s not Bialy’s it’s just bread) supporting the PTA. It might be nice to sit around talking at tables after so as to break away from the solemnity of voting.

Isn’t it great to be able to vote and to have your vote mean something even in not supporting a winning side?

The Value of Community

2008-10-25T17:59:00.004-04:00

Here in Cleveland a major employer has just been bought out by another in a neighboring state. As we watch the fluctuations in the value of our retirement accounts, we are also on edge about how all of the financial meltdown mire is going to bring change to our community. There seems to be little question that a large number of people will be displaced from their current work positions.

How the displacement affects the community is largely up to us. Will the community support those who are displaced? Will there be other positions available for making use of the years of experience? Will we think and behave in innovative ways to move the community forward? Or we will fall victim to the fear and sense of failure?

Now is the time to become engaged in conversation in the community. We need to talk through our fears being supportive of each other. We need to share the most valuable of our assets, our caring and our brainpower. Let us grow in community, celebrating and enhancing a legacy for our children and our children’s children.

Calling Me

2008-09-08T12:27:00.003-04:00

The water, it is calling me, calling me.

I went down to the water but

I didn't want to go in.

No, I didn't want to go in.

The water it is splashing me, splashing me.

I went down to the water but

I only got my feet wet.

Yes, I only got my feet wet.

The water, it is cooling me, cooling me.

I went down to the water and

I floated to the bottom.

Yes, I floated to the bottom.

The water it is pulling me, pulling me.

I went down under water and

I am never coming out.

No, I am never coming out.

[Dennis Coughlin April 2006]

Watkins Glen State Park

2008-09-05T19:00:00.003-04:00

Other pictures here

It Will Come Back to Bite Us in the End

2008-09-05T18:35:00.003-04:00

The other day I heard a politician praising her party for wanting the government to defeat its enemies. It is a popular sentiment not just for national political leaders but also for many leaders political at all levels, civic leaders, and business leaders. However, that thought leads to the problem identifying ones enemies and how one relates to the enemies of enemies.

Perhaps we should recognize, no, we definitely should recognize that defeating our enemies is not only not the only solution but may be one of the worst approaches to any way of life. We have been using that approach for thousands of years and it still does lead to any lasting community. It continues to be “what goes around comes around” and “an eye for an eye”.

Isn't it time that we live life under a new banner of behavior, behaving in a way that builds trust and respect. Yes, there needs to be accountability, time out for bad behavior, and honest criticism. We are teaching our business leaders that putting our competitors out of business is the only method of growing our businesses.We have countries that hate each other. Tom Lehrer wrote a song about it and we are at a point that nobody likes anybody else very much:

There’s strife in Iran

What nature doesn't do to us

Will be done by our fellow man.

We practice bad behavior in our business relationships, we extol it in our television and movies, we export it to countries in economic need, it our behavior always seems to come back and bite us in the end.

Customer Service

2008-05-20T21:21:00.005-04:00

This morning I went to get a haircut up at the shopping district about a mile from my house. I grew up going to the stores there: the movie theater now a bank, the drug store now vacant, the Manners Big Boy still a restaurant, the small grocery now a CVS. Problem was, I had a hundred dollar bill left over from my vacation. I went to the bank to get change. In the bank were four or five employees and one other customer. When I asked for change, I was refused because I was not a customer. It was corporate policy not to provide service to non customers.

What has happened to the service businesses in Northeast Ohio that they feel the need to not take the energy to serve the community? I know that this practice is repeated elsewhere but my opinion is, it shouldn’t. Taking that refusal as an opportunity to talk with the manager I introduced myself and we talked for about thirty minutes about customer service, community service, collaborative behavior, quality connected places, branding, and many other aspects of Open Source Economic Development and good behavior.

We talked about the bank not waiting for the landlord to fill the vacant space where the drug store moved out but proactively searching for a new tenant. The new tenant might provide employees who open accounts and apply for loans, the new tenant might open an account and become an active user of bank services, and the new customers the tenant attracts might provide profitable business for the bank.

We also talked about neighbors who were refused service and did not open accounts with the bank when the need arose, neighbors who did not have good things to say about the businesses practices of the bank, and possible building tenants who did not move in because of the less than pleasant atmosphere. The manager did offer to make change for me but today I decided to go elsewhere so that I did not the teller feel that perhaps she had done something against policy and that I had gone over her head.

I will be back to the bank because we began to build a relationship. I have connected the bank manager to a new Women’s Enterprise Network program that I am helping to develop. Maybe she will start having her branch provide service to the neighbors, customers or not. And maybe that vacant space may be filled soon.

Loss of Focus

2008-05-20T17:42:00.008-04:00

I have found that over the past several months I have been a little less focused as well as a little less tolerant than usual. I know that a lot has to do with both my parents dying in early January and my dealing with that loss. As executor, there is also continuing stress of sealing with various governmental requirements and other estate issues.

I had been taking care of my parents over the last five years and my work as a founder and director of a local non-profit allowed me some flexibility to deal with family issues.Luckily, I am more flexible than most and I know that there are many people out there who hold down a regular full time job, are raising a family, as well as looking after parents. I do not know how they are able to maintain an acceptable level of stress.

As far as this blog is concerned, I have been unable to focus long enough and deeply enough to complete a cogent discussion.I still would come with ideas to write about but would not have the wherewithal to work through to the end. I did find myself with a lot of partially finished projects. I am not a journal writer at heart as I prefer to sit down with people face to face to work through a conversation.

My brother thought that a vacation would do me and him good so the two of us went to a small fishing village on the Caribbean coast of Mexico to veg out but we ended up swimming and snorkeling every day as well as exploring the jungle and kayaking in the mangrove swamps.

My brother speaks Spanish but is hard of hearing. I understand Spanish but my speaking the language has not redeveloped from thirty-five years of inactivity. So the locals would speak to us in Spanish, I would translate to English and say it to my brother who would respond in Spanish. The time was somewhat a break and was enlightening but when I came back, I returned to all of the tasks that I had not taken care of for two weeks. Somewhat the way that I remember vacations being when I took them many years ago. (Other pictures may be found here)

Diversity is Over Valued

2008-04-02T16:31:00.003-04:00

So my skin is a different color than someone else’s, along with my hair and eyes. So I have less money than some and more money than others. None of those keeps me from finding where others and I intersect and start building community.

Have we focused on diversity to the detriment of community? Back in August 2007 I wrote about a diverse community being an oxymoron. The American tradition has been to celebrate the individual, how we are all different, diverse. If we keep looking at the differences how do we ever have time to find the connections, the touching points?

Geographic communities have lost their binding agents and we have moved away from supporting one another. Areas of synergy go undiscovered. It is through our building trust and finding that deep inside we are one that we are able to stand against our fears and move forward.

Change no, growth yes.

2008-01-30T18:59:00.000-05:00

In politics there seems to be a lot of talk about change. In my opinion it is not change per se that is needed but growth. There hopefully will be change in the results but the results will be from a growth in our behaviors. Changing faces will not help, changing where the leaders come from will not help. Growth in behavior will help. We need to learn from what has happened in the past and grow into new behaviors always acknowledging the shoulders on which we are standing.

This is what open source behavior is all about: taking the best of the past and using it to move forward. Talk is not what we need but actual collaborative communication with the follow up initiatives. Many things in the recent past have not worked but there are some behaviors that are positive. We can and have learned from our mistakes but we cannot ever throw out that which has happened in the past. Our technology now allows us to better record history and to allow opposing viewpoints to write our history as long as we are willing to work collaboratively.

Change no, growth yes.

Rev Martin Luther King Jr in Cleveland Heights 1963

2008-01-28T08:16:00.001-05:00

Address delivered by

THE REVEREND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., Ph.D.

May 14, 1963

at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

THE RIGHT REVEREND BEVERLEY D. TUCKER’S INTRODUCTION

If I were asked to select the two great Christian leaders of this year, I would unhesitatingly select these two: Pope John XXIII and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

It may seem strange to mention these two great men together, because the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestants have been separated for 400 years. Pope John has accomplished a great deal toward lifting the iron curtain which has separated Christian people from one another. The Second Vatican Council has accomplished much to open communications between these once-divided groups.

Our speaker today, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., is lifting another iron curtain. He is dedicating his ministry to lifting the curtain that divides two segments of our population that our country may be one. He is performing his mission with courage, yet with great Christian humility. Against the violence perpetrated upon his people he is not retaliating with violence, but praying that God will bless his persecutors and remove the barriers of suffering and segregation. It is a great honor to me to present the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

(Bishop Tucker was the Sixth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, 1938 - 1952.)

THE SERMON

Bishop Tucker, the Reverend Mr. McCracken, ladies and gentlemen:

I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be in Cleveland this afternoon and to have the privilege of seeing you and having a few words with you.

As you know, I am just in from Birmingham, Alabama, where we are at the present time engaged in a mighty struggle for freedom and human dignity. We have had our difficult moments in Birmingham. We have had our frustrating moments. But I think it is one of the most significant struggles taking place in our nation today, because for years Birmingham has been the worst big city in race relations in the United States and the most thoroughly segregated city in our country. I am convinced that if we can get a breakthrough for freedom and justice in that community, it will have repercussions all over the South, and it will mean that our work in other communities will be less difficult.

So I bring greetings to you from Birmingham. I bring special greetings from the thousands and thousands of Negro citizens of that community who have suffered and sacrificed over these few days while we have been engaged in this intensified phase of the struggle. And they want you to know how much they appreciate the backing, the moral support, and financial support which thousands and thousands of people of good will have given all over this country. So it is a real pleasure to be here. I want to express my personal appreciation to Bishop Tucker for these very kind and gracious words of introduction.

When I think about what is happening in Birmingham, Alabama, and when I think about our struggles all over the South and over the nation, I am always reminded of the fact that in reality we are really working to make the American dream a reality. And I would like to take a few minutes this afternoon to say something about the American dream. And I choose this subject because America is basically a dream, a dream yet unfulfilled. It is a dream of a nation founded on certain basic principles. The substance of the dream is found in these sublime words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The first thing that we notice in this dream is the amazing universalism. It does not say some men, it says all men. It does not say all white men but it says all men, which includes black men. It does not say all Protestants but it says all men, which includes Roman Catholics. It does not say all Gentiles, it says all men, which includes Jews. There is something else at the center of this great document which distinguishes our democratic form of government from totalitarian systems. It says that we all have certain basic rights that are neither derived from nor given by the state. In order to discover where they come from, it is necessary to move back behind the dim mist of eternity. They are God given. Very seldom if ever in the history of the world has a passage expressed in such a profound eloquence and unequivocal language the dignity and worth of human personality. The American dream reminds us that every man is the heir of the legacy of dignity. This is a great dream.

But ever since the founding fathers of our nation dreamed this dream, America has been something of a schizophrenic personality tragically divided against herself. On the one hand we have proudly professed the great principles of democracy, but on the other hand we have sadly practiced the very antithesis of those principles. Indeed slavery and racial segregation have been strange paradoxes, and the nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal is now more than ever before challenged to realize this great dream. For the shape of the world today does not permit our nation the luxury of an anemic democracy, and the price that our nation must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction. In a real sense, the hour is late, the clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now before it is too late.

I must hasten to say that we must solve this problem not merely to meet the communist challenge, as important as it happens to be. We must solve this problem not merely to appeal to Asian and African peoples, as important as that happens to be. In the final analysis, racial discrimination must be uprooted from American society because it is morally wrong. We must get rid of racial segregation because racial segregation stands against all of the basic precepts of our Judeo-Christian heritage. We must solve this problem because segregation substitutes an I-It relationship for the I-Thou relationship. It relegates persons to the status of things. So it is that we must move on in Birmingham and all over the South and all over the nation to solve this problem, not merely because it is diplomatically expedient but because it is morally compelling. And so wherever people are assembled today, wherever people are working today to get rid of racial and economic injustice, they are the real saviours of democracy: they are working to make the American dream a reality.

I would like to mention a few of the things that we must do all over our nation in order to make this dream a reality. First I think we must always be aware of the fact that we are living in a world that has become one world, and before the dream of democracy, the dream of brotherhood, can become a reality here, we must have a world of strength. The world in which we live is geographically one. Now we must move to make it one in terms of brotherhood.

It is true that the geographical wonders of our age have come into being to a large extent because of man’s scientific ingenuity. Through our scientific genius we have been able to probe distances and shrink time. Our jet planes have compressed into minutes distances that once took days and weeks and months. I know it isn’t the usual thing for a preacher to quote Bob Hope, but I think he has adequately described this age. He says, “It is an age in which it is possible to take a non-stop flight from Los Angeles, California, to New York City, a distance of some 3,000 miles, and if on taking off in Los Angeles you develop hiccoughs, you will ‘hic’ in Los Angeles and ‘cup’ in New York City.” You know, it is possible, because of time difference, to take a flight from Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday morning and arrive in Seattle, Washington, on the preceding Saturday night. If our friends meet you at the airport and ask you when you left Tokyo, you will have to say, “I left tomorrow.” This is the kind of world in which we live.

Now this is a bit humorous, but I am trying to underscore this simple fact to all of us. It is simply this: that through our scientific genius we have made of this world a neighborhood. Now, through our moral and ethical commitment, we must make of it a brotherhood. No nation can live alone, no individual can live alone. We are all tied together.

I remember some months ago Mrs. King and I journeyed to that great country known as India. I never will forget the experience: to meet and talk with the great leaders of India, to meet and talk with people all over the cities and villages of that vast country. The experiences that we had there will remain dear to me as long as thought and memories shall linger.

But there were depressing moments. How could one avoid being depressed when one sees with his own eyes millions of people going to bed hungry at night? How could one avoid being depressed when one discovers that, out of India’s population of more than 400 million people, almost 370,000,000 make an annual income of less than $80 a year? Most of these people have never seen a doctor or a dentist. How could one avoid being depressed when one sees millions of people sleeping on the sidewalk at night – no bench to sleep on – no houses to enter. As I faced these conditions, something within me cried out, “Can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned?” The answer came, “Oh no, because the destiny of the United States is tied up with the destiny of India and every other nation.” I started thinking of the fact that we in America spend more than one million dollars a day to store surplus food, and I said to myself, “Now I know where we can store that food free of charge – in the wrinkled stomachs of the millions of people in Asia and Africa, in South America, and even in our own nation, who go to bed hungry at night.” Perhaps we spend far too much of our national budget establishing military bases around the world, rather than establishing bases of genuine concern and understanding. What I am saying is simply this: that all life is interrelated. We are born into an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single bond of destiny. Whatever affects one man directly affects all men indirectly.

For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. John Donne pointed this out some years ago and phrased it in memorable language: “No man is an island entire in itself. Every man is a piece of the continent or part of the mainland.” He goes on to say, “Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind. Therefore never send to learn for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee.” This we must realize if the American dream is to become a reality.

Another thing that is basic and necessary if we are to solve the problem in our nation, whether it be North and South or East and West, is to rid ourselves of the notion once and for all that there are superior and inferior races. This notion of racial inferiority still lingers in spite of the fact that our great scientific disciplines have refuted the idea. The anthropological scientists – including great anthropologists like Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, Melville Herskovitz, and others – have made it clear through their long years of study that there are no superior or inferior races. There are superior and inferior individuals academically within all races. Through medical science, we have discovered that there are only four kinds of blood and that these four blood types are found within all racial groups. Yet in spite of this, there are those who still argue that the Negro is inferior.

There was a time when all this was argued from the standpoint of the Bible, strangely enough. They used to argue that the Negro was inferior by nature because of Noah’s curse upon the children of Ham. Then the Apostle Paul’s dictum became a watchword, “Servants, be obedient to your master.” Then one brother had studied the logic of the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle did a great deal to bring into being formal logic. There is a big word in formal logic known as a syllogism, which has a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. This brother put his argument about the inferiority of the Negro in the framework of an Aristotelian syllogism. He said, “All men are made in the image of God.” This was the major premise. The minor premise was “God, as everyone knows, is not a Negro. Therefore, the Negro is not a man.” And these ideas to a degree are still voiced sometimes on religious grounds. In fact, I heard of someone in Mississippi the other day saying that “God was a charter member of the White Citizens Council.”

Today the arguments are on subtle sociological and cultural ground. That is: the Negro is not culturally ready for integration. If you integrate the schools and neighborhoods and all of the other areas seeking integration, you will put the white race back a generation. Then, the argument goes on, the Negro is a criminal. They go on endlessly, and the persons who set forth these arguments never say that it is their irresponsibility that has created lagging standards in the Negro community. They lag because of segregation and discrimination. Poverty and ignorance breed crime, whatever the racial group may be. These things are environmental and not racial. They result from the social isolation, the economic deprivation, and all of the other things that go along with discrimination. And it is tortuous logic to use the tragic results of segregation as an argument for its continuance. It is necessary to get to the causal root. We must, all over America, get rid of the notion once and for all that there are superior and inferior races.

Now we must see the necessity for developing an action program to destroy segregation and discrimination in our midst. This means that all over this nation we must develop a concrete action program. The Church itself has a significant role to play in this area. Certainly before the Church can move out into the arena of social action, it must remove the yoke of segregation from its body. One of the tragic facts that we must face is that 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour in America, an hour in which we stand and sing “In Christ there is no East or West.” The most segregated school is the Sunday School. Thank God we are beginning now to shake the lethargy from our souls. Messengers of the Gospel and church groups all over this nation are coming to see that if we are to be true to our Christian witness, if we are to be true to Jesus Christ, we must take a stand on this issue. This means we must support meaningful, constructive civil rights legislation.

There are always those who say legislation can’t solve the problem. There is a half-truth involved here. It is true that legislation cannot solve the whole problem. It can solve some of the problem. It may be true that morality can’t be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. It may be true that legislation cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.

Yes, we need religion and education to change hostile attitudes, but we need legislation to control the external effects of these hostile attitudes. Yes, we need an action program which will work for meaningful legislation to abolish discrimination all over our nation. As we move forward toward the American dream, it will be necessary for those who have been the victims of segregation and discrimination to work passionately for their own freedom. This is what I have tried to teach all over the South and over the nation: we cannot sit idly by and think others will be and should be more concerned about our citizenship rights than we are. We must work ourselves to make integration a reality. This must be supplemented by non-violent direct action.

This is the approach that we are using in Birmingham, Alabama, and now in communities all over the south. Sometimes it will take the form of sit-ins or stand-ins or kneel-ins, or mass marches to dramatize the issue and expose the injustice and being it to the surface where everybody can see it. I insist that it must be non-violent if it is to be constructive. Now there are two or three things that I would like to say about non-violence, because this method has a basic philosophy. It has a way of disarming the opponent. It exposes his moral defenses and weakens his morale and at the same time it works on his conscience. He does not know how to handle it. If he doesn’t beat you, wonderful! If he beats you, you develop the quiet courage of accepting blows without retaliating. If he doesn’t put you in jail, fine! Nobody with any sense loves to go to jail, but if he puts you in jail, you go into that jail and transform it from a dungeon of shame into a haven of freedom and human dignity. Even if he tries to kill you, you develop the quiet courage of dying if necessary without killing. There is something about this that is powerful, that disarms the opponent.

The second thing about this method is that it has a way of giving the individuals in the struggle the opportunity to work to secure moral ends through moral means. One of the great debates of history has been over the whole question of means and ends. Sometimes men have argued that the ends justify the means. I think this is one of the weaknesses, along with many others, of communism. They live with the idea that the end justifies the means. And read Lenin as he says, “Lying and deceit, withholding and concealing the truth, and even violence are all justifiable means to bring about the goal of the classless society.”

This is where non-violence breaks with communism and any other system which argues that the end justifies the means. In the long run, the end is pre-existent in the means, and the means represent the ideal in the making and the end in process. And so we have a method of struggle which makes it possible for the individuals involved to struggle for a moral end with a moral means. The other thing about this method is that it keeps the love ethic at the center. It says that it is possible to resist an evil system and yet maintain an attitude of active good will for the perpetrators of that evil system.

Now when I talk about love at this point I am not talking about emotional love. I am not talking about the kind of love that you have in a romantic relationship, the word Eros which would be used in Greek. I am not talking even about friendship, the word Pelago, which is used in Greek. I am talking about Agape, understanding, creative good will for all men, an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said, “Love your enemies.” And I’m happy he didn’t say “Like your enemies.” It’s pretty difficult to like some people. Jesus said love them because love is greater than like. When one rises to Agape love, he loves every man, not because his ways appeal to him, but because God loves him. This is what we are trying to place at the center of our movement.

So we can stand before our most violent oppressor, even those who bombed the home of my brother in Birmingham, Alabama, Saturday night and who tried to bomb the room where I was staying at the motel – we can say we will beat your physical force with soul force. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. We will match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will go on in our struggle to be free, and in the process you may not like it but we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out into some wayside road and beat us and leave us half-dead, and as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Dare to send your propaganda agents over the country. Make it appear that we are not fit morally, culturally, and otherwise for integration, and we will still love you. But be you assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer.

One day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves. We will so appeal to your heart and your conscience that we will win you in the process. And our victory will be a double victory. This is our message. This is the message of non-violence. And I believe that this is the message that will transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

And so the great challenge now is to move on toward the realization of the American dream. We must work all over the country to do it. As I have said so often, the problem of racial injustice is not just a sectional problem. No area of our country can boast of clean hands in the realm of brotherhood. Certainly it is one thing for white people of good will in the North to rise up with righteous indignation when buses are crammed with Freedom Riders in Anderson, Alabama; or when courageous James Meredith confronts a howling, jeering mob as he seeks to go into the University of Mississippi; where the church is burned in Sansaconi, Georgia; where Negroes are seeking to learn how to register to vote; and Negro children are arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, simply because they want to be free. It is just as important for white people of good will to rise up with righteous indignation in the North when the Negro cannot live in their neighborhood and when the Negro cannot get a particular position in their firm, or when a Negro cannot join their professional society. In other words, all over America, if this problem is to be solved, there must be a sort of divine discontent.

There are many technical words in every academic discipline which become stereotyped and cliché. I want to mention one of these words. It is the word maladjustment. It is a great technical word in modern psychology, which has become a ringing cry. It is the product, or the modern child, of psychology.

We all want to live the well-adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic personalities, but I must be honest with you by saying that there are some things within our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted, and to which I call all men of good will to be maladjusted until the good society is realized.

I must confess that I will never adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I will never become adjusted to religious bigotry. I will never adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many and give luxuries to the few. I will never become adjusted to the madness of militarism: the self-defeating effects of physical violence. In a day when Sputniks and Explorers are dashing through outer space, guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death throughout the stratosphere, no nation can win a war. There is no longer a choice between violence and non-violence. It is either non-violence or non-existence. The alternative to disarmament, the alternative to suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and working toward disarming the whole world, may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation. I never intend to adjust to the madness of militarism.

It may well be the greatest need of the hour, the greatest need of our world, to have more maladjustment. This is why I am calling for the immediate formation of a new organization, “The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.” There is a need for men and women to be as maladjusted as the prophet Amos. In his day, in the midst of injustices, his proud words echo across the centuries, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” There is a need for men and women today to be as maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln, who had the vision to see that this nation could not exist half-slave and half-free. There is a need for us to be as maladjusted as Jefferson, who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery cried with words rising to cosmic proportions, “All men are created equal.” There is a need for men to be as maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth, who could stand amid the men and women of his day, amid the intricacies of the formidable military machinery of the Roman Empire, to say, “He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword,” and cry out, “Love your enemies; bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.”

Through such maladjustment, we will be able to emerge from the darkened midnight of man’s inhumanity to man into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

With this faith, we will be able to go on to carve a tower of hope on the mountain of despair and bring into being that great dream and create right here in America a nation where all men will live together in brotherhood and where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.

We will have a long way to go before the problem is solved, but I am happy to say we are making strides. I close by quoting the words of an old Negro slave preacher whose grammar and diction lacked distinction, but who uttered words of great symbolic profundity in the form of a prayer:

“Lord, we ain’t what we want to be; we ain’t what we ought to be; we ain’t what we gonna be; but thank God we ain’t what we was.”

Moving Forward

2007-12-05T11:09:00.000-05:00

All too much our civic leaders are commissioning studies to determine what we have done wrong or what should we do. When are we going to commission ourselves to move in the direction of our conversations? Knowing what did not work is helpful in guiding us not to make the same mistakes again (and again); but do we need to keep paying for it?

Our civic leaders keep paying out our money and our charitable gifts for new plans but never implementing them. Again and again. Is it because the plans require too much of our assets? Are the players who should be involved, not involved? Is it because the plans are not workable? Is it because the world around us is changing more quickly than our plans have accounted for?

We need to work within our civic community to grow into strategic thinking rather than to develop strategic plans that are out of date by the time they hit the papers. Part of that strategic thinking includes accountability. Every time we announce a new initiative we need to also determine and voice our next steps. Each time we gather we need to follow up on where we are with those steps, refining our thinking as we go to allow for changes in the world around us.

We (all of us) need to have civic leaders who display accountability and the ability to guide our conversations and use of our assets. We need to continue civic conversations identifying and growing new ideas and leaders. Next step: start or participate in an open forum in your community.

Trust in the Digital Age

2007-11-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

A number of questions regarding trust in the digital age:

In the new world of internet communication how do people build trust?
If I am in email communication with you how do you come to build a collaborative relationship with me?
If you are a blogger, how do your readers come to a position on being able to act on or respond to your comments?
What leads me to a level of trust that I post a comment on your site with my own name?
There seems to be great promotion about how all in the economy eventually will be handled digitally. Will things move faster when there is some physical interface?
At what point in digital networks in degrees of separation do trust and respect stretch thin and no longer flow?
Do the bonds of trust reduce geometrically the more connections involved?
How fragile are digital bonds of trust?

Universal Service

2007-11-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

I received an email today from Barbara Crafton of The Geranium Farm regarding universal service for all young adults. She referenced work of Professor Larry Sabato of The University of Virginia's Center for Politics. We need to think about how we train our youth for leadership and for participation in the civic space. She suggests we think about having service as a requirement for any leadership position as well as for everyone else.

"Politics works better when citizens are informed and active participants." (from http://www.amoreperfectconstitution.com/ )

Ode to a Dead Horse (Cleveland Economic Development in Action)

2007-11-07T08:56:00.000-05:00

Dakota Wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. However, we in Cleveland often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following:

1. Buying a strong whip.

2. Trying a new bit or bridle.

3. Changing riders.

4. Moving the horse to a new location.

5. Riding the horse for longer periods of time.

6. Saying things like, “This is the way we have always ridden this horse.”

7. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

8. Arranging to visit other cities to see how they ride dead horses.

9. Increasing the standards for riding dead horses.

10. Creating a test for measuring our riding ability.

11. Comparing the state of dead horses today.

12. Complaining about the state of dead horses today.

13. Coming up with new styles of riding dead horses.

14. Blaming the horses parents.

15. Tightening the cinch.

16. Passing legislation which declares that “This horse is not dead.”

17. Harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed.

18. Trying to resuscitate the dead horse.

19. Praying for the dead horse to be resurrected.

20. Wisdom #1: Convince a stranger that the dead horse is resting up for the next day’s work.

21. Wisdom #2: Sell the dead horse to the stranger.

(I received this in the mid 90's relating to the activities of certain non-profit boards but I believe that it is often relevant to the economic development strategies in shrinking cities.)

History is in the Telling

2007-10-24T13:34:00.000-04:00

Recently I have had a number of conversations about story telling or the lack thereof. I continually express my belief in the power of each one of us relating our stories which also includes the open source behavior of passing on the stories of those with whom we have interacted.

Story telling is not something that is to be controlled or can be controlled. However, there will always be arguments about how something actually occurred or why an event happened; what is the “true” story. Writing a story down or filming it does not always come up with the answers and often times skews the story for all who only use one source. Therein lies one of the benefits of the internet in that there becomes multiple sources for determining for ourselves what is important, what happened, or why it happened. The human brain is remarkable in that it can seem to identify the wheat in the chaff.

In Ireland there is a rich tradition of storytelling with the storyteller going from village to village relating folk tales, history, and other happenings throughout the island. People of each community would look forward to the visit of the story teller, hungrily gathering together to hear stories that have been heard often before as well as those that are new to many ears. The stories themselves are important but the hearing in community also provides for the richness of the experience.

We and our communities live on through the stories that are told so it is important that we teach ourselves the stories both new and old. The new stories are grown out of the old; we learn from our mistakes only if we are aware of the mistakes of others in the community.

Have You Done Your Part Today?

2007-10-21T13:29:00.000-04:00

Have you done your part to help enhance the civic space today? Have you introduced someone you know to someone else you know because you feel the two of them or the three of you have something in common? Have you thought about how two entrepreneurial people you know might benefit from talking with each other and actually done something about it?

If not, send an email introduction today and then follow it up with a contact of your own. Help your friends and acquaintances tell and spread their stories. Grow your collaborative network and enhance the quality connected place we know our community to be. Help make the box bigger; save others from working on their own outside the box.

National Revenue Sharing

2007-10-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

There has been considerable talk and and some implementation in Northeast Ohio of revenue sharing among communities when companies relocate. How about looking beyond the smaller region and look nationally or even globally and share tax revenue with communities that lose businesses to the Midwest due a shortage of water (the most precious of resources next to air and brains)?

As time goes on and some resources become less available (water, coal, petroleum, minerals, etc) there will be greater pressure brought to bear to provide the diminishing resources to those with the most money making the resources less available for those with the least money. Such practices remove the community resources from one community replacing them with money in the hands of a limited powerful elite.

The Midwest at one time was referred to as the rust belt but is now the water belt. If Georgia and the Southwest want water and are willing to pay for it, how can we encourage the recycling of the Midwest water in the Midwest by having those dry communities meet their needs by moving their companies and residents to the Midwest?

We need to encourage keeping the Midwest water in the Midwest rather than shipping it away to the South and West.

Economic Development: Thinking With Our Brains and Hearts

2007-10-12T13:51:00.000-04:00

In a recent email to a researcher in economic development I wrote of my definition of economic development. My definition, as are open source technology and practices, is ever evolving. I see Economic Development as the linking and leveraging of assets (money, brain power, quality places) to sustain and increase the amount of "good assets" (assets flowing into the community from outside the community) and to reduce the amount of "bad assets" (assets flowing out of the community) as well as to increase the speed of the assets moving within the community and the speed with which the community positively responds to negative changes. The same would hold true no matter what the geographic constraints.

Civic leaders need to decide how best to effect economic development so that it ends up being “good” economic development. To decide requires thinking and doing strategically. We need to think with our brains and our hearts not with parts of our anatomy and our personal wallets.

Old Behavior: Command and Control

2007-09-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

Cleveland is running far behind the pack in innovative behavior and its foundations are no exception. When around the country foundations and economic development organizations are working with small communities and entrepreneurs, the foundations in Cleveland are turning to the industrial approach. From Crain’s Cleveland Business Sep 3 2007: Sandra Kiely Kolb board chairman St Luke’s Foundation: “Foundations have taken a more business-model approach looking at collaborations... Maybe we’re asking the harder questions of nonprofits, but it’s for their own good.”

Business models are changing and here is Cleveland embracing old models and telling the nonprofits that it’s for their own good. Also the foundations have given up on the power of small group and individual behavior in economic development. From the same Crain’s article: “Mr. Abbott said the Gund Foundation during the last four years has partnered with other foundations to focus on Economic development because no entity is powerful enough to go it alone. And local foundations expect nonprofits to follow their lead.” Perhaps the foundations should be doing less leading and more supporting of innovative behavior. Perhaps the foundations should be doing less telling people and organizations what to do than partner with others in identifying and encouraging new ways of sustainability.

More than ever in Cleveland it seems to be “command and control” instead of “link and leverage.”

Accountability in Community

2007-08-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

Most of us want to live in community. We want nice neighbors, responsive civic services, effective schools, clean streets, playgrounds and parks, and good jobs. However, many of us have forgotten that along with the benefits of community there are also the accountabilities of community.

In our failures to see future opportunities, we are willing to accept and even encourage the quick fixes where there is less responsibility and accountability. We accept what we are told by people who our media tells us are our leaders or are experts. Rather than work to identify and encourage trusted individuals as leaders, we blindly accept. Rather than addressing the problems we look for the flash in the pan, the short term gain.

Somewhere along the way we are told and we accept that the answers are outside the box. What we conveniently forget is that when we go outside the box we are usually abandoning all that is in the box. We move to the suburbs so that we no longer have to deal with the urban “problems”. We create charter schools so that we can conveniently hide from the problems of the less fortunate in community support. We set up wards in our communities so that we can protect ourselves in our own small areas with people who we perceive as “us”. We don’t hold our leaders accountable let alone our own children.

We have lost our trust in our own communities and have no one but ourselves to blame even though we do our best to blame everyone else.

So, how do we reclaim the lost ground in community? We accept accountability for our own actions. We build trust with our leaders. We hold others accountable for their behavior. We work on long term solutions which may be simple but often are not easy. We stop letting ourselves be led into decisions which line the pockets of others in the short term but cost us in the long term especially at the expense the the greater number. Instead of building convention centers, we invest in the small businesses so that storefronts and offices are filled and appropriate jobs with benefits exist for those who are willing. Why would someone want to come to a city with poor services and missing retail to attend a convention?

We need to support not only our own children, but all the children in the community to assure that all receive a good education as well as have hope in the benefits of getting a diploma. We need to be accountable for disobedience. We need to share the stories that we all have of our joys, our successes, our hopes, our fears, what does not work, and what does work.

We need to stop “thinking outside the box” but instead think strategically in the box, making the box bigger and more inclusive, inviting all to participate in the exciting opportunity that is our community.

Moving from Diversity into Community

2007-08-07T19:22:00.000-04:00

Recently there was discussion on the blog site Brewed Fresh Daily about diversity. It got me thinking about the phrase “a diverse community.” For me that is an oxymoron in that diversity addresses differences whereas community talks about a oneness.

Perhaps many who use the word diverse actually have something else in mind but aren’t saying it. If so, I believe it is better to say racially diverse, or ethnically diverse, or economically diverse, or whatever diverse. We also misuse community, assigning a much higher connotation on a group of people who live in geographic proximity to each other.

Whatever we are saying or whatever we mean, we all need to be moving into community where we learn share hopes, dreams, fears, expectations, and joys. We become community through open conversation, honest conversation, whether we agree or agree to disagree, we agree to continue moving forward in conversation.

The Questions Unite Us

2007-05-03T10:47:00.000-04:00

There are so many things that we allow to divide us. We define ourselves by what we hold true and build boxes to separate ourselves from others who hold other truths. Then we spend tremendous amounts of brainpower and money enforcing our truths on ourselves and others.

I believe that we need to change our focus and energies to the questions which unite us. When we invest in the questions the answers will come but at a much lower cost and in a way that there is a greater acceptance because we are working together and we are part of the solution. The answers we arrive at may be different and activity occurs when there is community and passion in the answers.

Some of the questions are how do we deal with the poverty not only in our urban communities but also in our rural areas? How do we create sustainable businesses that don’t poison our environment and overly deplete resources? How to we fairly value our contributions to and in an ongoing society? How do we behave in ways that build trust and respect?

Community Investment

2007-01-03T19:04:00.000-05:00

All too often American society in general and its media evaluate activities solely on dollar amounts. We seem to value our organizations on the bottom line rather than their contributions to the stockholders as well as to the community. Who are the analysts who have decided that this is the way to evaluate activity? Why do we allow this behavior to be taught in our business schools? Why do we accept this shallow thinking from our leaders?

To compare education systems based solely on dollars belittles the value of other assts such as community involvement. The costs of behaviors in the civic space vary all over the spectrum. What has become clear is that when there is a sharing of the process involved, the total dollar costs as well as the individual costs appear to be less. Educating our children is so much less per child when the parents, teachers, students, and community have made a commitment to participate and where the community is not in flux. This is especially true in private school education as well as in charter schools. Public school communities where there has been parental and community support and where there is not significant flux in the community cost significantly less and appear to provide a stronger education than other communities.

Our non profits make a point of publicizing dollar donation levels and celebrating the big dollar donors. What of the people that give of their life rather than of their excesses. We all need to invest in our communities but there is less need for dollar investment and greater need for intellectual and hands on investment. It is not to say that money is not needed but rather that non monetary investment is so important and should in the forefront and not be disregarded or be playing second fiddle.

Muck and Mire of Media Manipulation

2006-11-13T15:27:00.000-05:00

Brewed Fresh Daily has a blog today "Define Gaming" which goes to the heart of why we need trusted lines of communication.
I think we need to reframe the dialogue on gaming. I was reading my tech posts realized that in a creative economy gaming refers to video games not gambling. There are a lot of people in this area working on making Northeast Ohio a videogame development mecca. Why aren’t more political leaders putting their political clout behind that? [BFD]
The same thing has taken place with the smoking industry as in the gambling industry. Proponents recognize that their organizations have a sleazy reputation and work very hard to sanitize the perception. To a certain extent it is all spin but it also serves to confuse intentionally.

Open communication is how we all work through the smoke and mirrors to determine for ourselves that information that is important for our decision making. This is where blogs do their part, along with civic forums in which we all agree to behave in ways that build trust and respect. We need to continue to build our own trust networks so that there are people and organizations we can go to in order to avoid the muck and mire of media manipulation.

Taking the Easy Way

2006-10-28T15:18:00.000-04:00

Why do we often seem to take the easy way to deal with our fears? The greater the fear the more we move to the easy, short time solution. This behavior is not just restricted to our leaders, but also occurs in the followers. Somehow we have stop using our brains to think strategically but have accepted a strategic plan and stuck to it. We have accepted that the ends justify the means.

The using of, what is for me are questionable, means applies in our fight against terrorism; our thirst for unending supplies of oil; our quest for a secure, accurate voting system; our desire for affordable college educations; and our move towards sustainable economies. Yes, when problems caused by our actions come to the fore, we can always say that we did not know then what we know now, but why do we not work harder, think strategically in an accountable manner, and apply some innovative solutions. We need to review our values and not always accept the answer based on money. Let us look at that which recognizes basic human values and celebrates the ability to think with the brainpower in us all.

Accountability

2006-10-13T09:05:00.000-04:00

For years Clevelanders have had the same development leaders. In the last decade their leadership has been less than effective as evidenced by the state of the region, especially in comparison to most other Midwest regions. At what point do we, as the community hold them accountable and either encourage them to severely change their behavior or move aside for people who embrace new effective practices?

Economic development leaders are community leaders only because the community says they are and treats them as such. It appears that these leaders are too much into invest, command, and control rather than invest and advise. As a region we need to refrain from viewing the behavior as a top down process but to turn everything on its side so that we are all on an even plane. We need to stop allowing hierarchies to be the driving force in Cleveland.

Let's return to the old Golden Rule; moving from "He who has the gold, rules." to "Do unto others that which you would have them do unto you."

Are Apes Descended from Man?

2006-10-10T15:00:00.000-04:00

I am always looking for new ways to make the box bigger rather than thinking outside the box. Here is a new way to look at evolution.

Perhaps much of the confusion arising through the controversy over evolution between religion and science comes from a viewpoint by both on what may have occurred. How about viewing Apes as descended from Man (or Woman)?

There also is a question about what is Man. Is Man homo sapiens or something else? When a person dies, the homo sapiens dies but the Man continues. With that view, Man has evolved from nothing or primordial ooze/clay while homo sapiens has appeared at some much later point in time. Man was created by God but homo sapiens evolved.

Way of Life

2006-10-06T08:24:00.001-04:00

“We know how to save the world. We just don’t realize that we know what we know.”
Leonard Sweet
Where do we go where we feel safe enough to tell our stories, to experiment with thought, to express our dreams? Where to we go to hear new stories, to be challenged with new ideas, to be exposed to new opportunities? Where do we go to be supported, be supportive? To find synergies with others? To be collaborative in leadership and in following? To discover what we know and what we can do? To be passionate about our work?

Midtown does not have all the answers but for me there are many places where I feel safe to grow and collaborate. Sure there are those who focus only on their own agendae, but there are mostly those who are genuinely interested in where you are going and how they can help.

My style has always been to build upon the best practices of others. You can call it creative appropriation but seeing what works and applying it in new ways is so much faster and leaves brainpower for other problems. Whether it is creating or improving a website or setting up a new chart of accounts, I find that I often look for samples of what has been done before. However, my style requires the input of others and that is where my relationships in Midtown come in.

I also find that I do a lot of strategic thinking so that when something happens I am not completely unprepared to move forward quickly and informed. I also find that in my work as manager and administrator, there has been less managing people but more managing systems and providing support for people who inhabit those systems.

Midtown has been supportive of that style and has allowed me to grow into myself. Midtown is a way of life. Experience it.

Open to New Ways

2006-08-15T10:51:00.000-04:00

As I listed in my blog when I first started, we need to re-envision the box. We need to leave ourselves open to new interpretations, new ways of thinking, listening, and doing. We also need to communicate in new ways, using new methods and new language. There also needs to be accountability. There is a need for better, more, and faster communication. However, the only way that communication truly works is when there is open dialogue and honesty.

Now more than ever.

It's All About Collaboration

2006-08-08T17:12:00.000-04:00

"There are no competitors - It's all about collaboration."

Brad S. Kleinman

The Perfect Wave

2006-08-06T21:47:00.000-04:00

Friday we were talking about economic development in Cleveland and an analogy was made to sitting on the beach watching the ocean. Those who are lake centric in Cleveland do like watching Lake Erie but I think this was more a thought of sitting on a wide sandy beach watching breakers roll ashore.

Clevelanders and its leaders in particular have too much of a tendency to sit on the beach watching the waves rather than catching the waves.

The thought conversations seem to go:

“Wow! Look at that wave. Well, we weren’t ready yet.

No, that one is not big enough.

Oooh! Look how that surfer is working that board. We can do that.

I wonder if our board is waxed enough.

We stayed up all night planning all the moves and I practiced them in the mirror. We might try them sometime.

That shop owner I talked with sold me a new board and said with it I can do all the new stuff.

I bet I look good in this suit. Red is my color.
Oh, there’s a good wave. Aw, somebody else is already on it.

Are there any cameras on me. They need to shoot from my right.
I wonder if the water is too cold. Am I wearing the right wet suit?

I wonder if I should ask the beach patrol if it’s okay to ride the waves here.

There’s a good wave, but I have sand in my suit.

We have the best boards, the best wet suits, and we know we are the best surfers. We just don’t have all our friends with us.

I really don’t want to look bad surfing.

Oooh! There’s another good wave. Ooops, too late.

Maybe tomorrow.”

Get in the water already!

Spelling “Team” With an “I”

2006-08-06T20:49:00.000-04:00

The other day we were sitting around having a conversation about others' view of the Open Source Economic Development process. Some reported hearing that it seem like chaos theory. Someone reported of hearing about herding cats. From my perspective it is neither.

However, I do admit, from a certain perspective those comments are understandable. Previous economic practices demanded certain perspectives for understanding. I am sure that those living in the Bronze Age had behaviors which seemed strange to those still operating under the Iron Age thought process. We are now moving in the Second Curve economy which also may be called the Collaborative Innovation Economy. First Curve economic thinking has problems with some of the concepts. First Curve is about closed innovation: knowledge control; Second Curve is about open innovation: knowledge sharing. First Curve does not understand how a business can be successful if it is telling competitors and the world about its processes. First Curve views Second Curve behavior as chaos and Second Curve sees purposeful behavior with collaborative leadership.

So it goes with teamwork and the view of working as a team. When First Curve talks about working as a team, it is often about sublimating your own agenda for the team. There is a coach, a captain, and a manager, all who guide the team in its winning a game. Second Curve team (in first curve parlance) does not have a coach, a captain, or a manager. This team works with individuals who are aligned in a common goal which isn’t to beat someone else. The individual is very important for the strengths that it brings as well as the individual’s goals. Its goal is to provide a successful, sustainable end that meets the needs of all of the team as well as providing good for the community. The individual is in the team but not at the expense of others participating on the team. There is an alignment of all the “I”s on the team to forward moving behavior.

In First Curve there is also the thought that when there are two teams working to a seemingly common goal, the smaller team should merge with the larger team so as to strengthen the whole. What then happens is the larger team gains control and mass but loses nothing. The smaller team loses any individuality and differences that it may have had which quite possibly were its strengths.

I have often heard coaches tell their teams that “team” is not spelled with an “I”. In my Second Curve economy “team” is spelled with an “I” and is stronger, faster, and more sustainable for it.

Living with a Disability

2006-07-20T19:15:00.000-04:00

We all live with a disability: we are human. We make mistakes. We have other shortcomings. We are not perfect.

What most of us have to counter that disability is hope. We also have each other. Community is what brings us together and supports us all in our seeking to maintain or improve ourselves and each other.

"Strap on Your Goggles!"

2006-07-18T12:38:00.000-04:00

As a Director of the Institute for Open Economic Networks, also known as I-Open, (click here) I help teach and sustain behaviors in regional economic activity guided by Open Source Economic Development. The principal behaviors addressed lead to strengthening brain power, connecting innovation and entrepreneurship networks, building quality, connected places, strengthening civic habits of dialogue and inclusion, and promoting an effective brand through sharing positive stories of activity.

In our process we develop innovation zones in a region through civic forums that focus on story telling of best practices, experiences, building trust, and deepening knowledge of ourselves and our communities. Not only is there much learning and collaborative networking taking place with these forums, there also arise initiatives through alignment of individuals’ interests. Through the initiatives growth occurs through creation of entrepreneurial enterprises but also the creation of supportive environments for new activity.

Most recently, the past week a remarkable meeting took place at Nead Brand Partners (click here) , one of the supporters of our activity in the midtown area of Cleveland. In the midtown area where I-Open has been building an innovation zone, the initiatives and partners have grown enough that there is a demand to grow the hot spot out from Midtown to the surrounding neighborhoods that are not in “Midtown.” There is now discussion to further involve residents, not just civic leaders and entrepreneurs. People involved with several of the neighborhoods are excited with what has been going on in Midtown and are requesting that the innovation zone be reenvisioned and renamed so as to discourage concerns over "ownership" and to encourage inclusion and participation throughout the region.

There is now a call out to find a "brand" for the innovation zone that is unique to the area as was "Midtown My Town." The I-Open civic forum on August 9, 2006 is now looking to be a kick off of that expansion with participation from many neighborhoods and local development corporations. There will be an envisioning process taking place as took place with the initiation of the Midtown Innovation Zone.

As has been said before, "Strap on your goggles!" The zones are zooming.

Sustainable Activity

2006-07-03T08:42:00.000-04:00

For years our leaders have been telling us “If you want something done, give us more money public or private. We know what to do and will do it for you.” And for years they put together a strategic plan which gets packaged nicely and put on the shelf next to all of the other strategic plans. Occasionally we listen to someone who tells us that he can think out of the box and will do the right things for us. He ends up making the decisions for us and we gain no capability for sustainability because we have not increased our own abilities.

Occasionally someone comes in and listens to us and our ideas and then goes off and picks what he feels are the best ideas, decides what to do, and tells us to do it. There is a tremendous value placed upon both the people and organizations with money and the money itself. We need to enlarge our thinking to place a greater value on brain power of each of us. We need to value more the individual efforts of smaller organizations working together. We have non-profit organizations that are jockeying for control, growing or sustaining their own fiefdoms. They are spending their energies and monies on protecting themselves rather than furthering their missions.

We need to listen to the wonderful ideas that are being put forward. Then we need to align the ideas in focused initiatives. Empowering all to work together behind these initiatives creates the ability to move forward with lower cost and greater speed. Building trust in getting initiatives done builds sustainability. Sustainability builds a stronger economy.

Investments in Our Children

2006-06-15T15:19:00.000-04:00

"The way a society cares for its children
predicts the future of that society."
"Education and abundance are privileges that lead to responsibility. Global Justice is the responsibility of educated professionals and the wealthy people. We must take action."
Fr. Masalakulangwa Mabula 14 June 2006

It is the responsibilty of all of us to share our knowledge with future generations. We also need to share our best practices in business as well as in life. Those with any kind of wealth need to invest it to grow our communities rather than bury it in the sand. Having money and/or knowledge creates responsibilities which we must continue to meet.

Its Time For Commitment

2006-05-04T17:49:00.000-04:00

I and others from I-Open met today with someone in Cleveland who has worked with developing entrepreneurs in Europe and is now trying to develop some innovative businesses here in Northeast Ohio. It works elsewhere so why can’t it work here? The comment I heard is that Cuyahoga County is so siloed and set in its 1st curve economy ways that it is unlikely anytime soon that Cleveland will move forward. Many are close to giving up hope and a number of businesses, organizations, and individuals already have. My brother has said to me that no community is guaranteed the right to survive. It is up to its residents to make a commitment to work together and then act on that commitment.

We all need to stop making the same strategic plan year after year and decade after decade, stop having conversations about what would be wonderful if somebody else did it, and stop whining. We need to start working together, supporting each other, and sharing best practices. We need to learn to do strategic thinking and doing rather than strategic planning. We need to treat each other and each others ideas with respect. Maybe even implement the old golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” rather than the current Cleveland golden rule, “He who has the gold, rules.”

The Morrison brothers have always said that the revolution will come from the mountains. It will come from the outlying areas, whether it be Akron, Youngstown, Mayfield, or Berea. Cleveland civic leaders and all who interact in the civic space need to learn and practice new behaviors. I will continue to teach new behaviors in the civic space, to encourage entrepreneurs to stop waiting for someone to give them permission, and to help build collaborative networks and behaviors.

New Approaches to Economic Development

2006-03-28T13:18:00.000-05:00

We need to cultivate practices that create open conversations leading to new levels of collaborative behavior. The last two days I participated in an economic development program at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. The conference was put on by the Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open). The conference was principally held to delve into new approaches in regional innovation.

What was so exciting was the breadth of experiences, positions, backgrounds of the twenty-four who elected to participate. There were people from Cleveland; Jefferson City, Missouri; Wayne County; all over Cuyahoga County; Nashville, Tennessee; and Indianapolis, Indiana. There were people who work for the City of Cleveland, TVA, Cuyahoga County, various non-profit organizations, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Case Western Reserve University, Myers University, the Cuyahoga County Library.

There were people who are economic development directors, librarians, students, unemployed, non-profit administrators, small farm supporters, network builders, community development leaders, car restorers, technology directors, bio-fuels engineers, agricultural innovators. There were people in suits, people in jeans, and people in skirts.

We got involved in the discussion of first curve versus second curve innovation strategies, quality connected places, building connected networks, building innovation networks, growing regional economies, appreciative networks, authentic engagement, network weaving, collaborative projects.

All of these people came to the table and participated in open conversations building trust, finding common ground, and building new collaborative networks. We developed new ways to help focus our actions leading to bring innovation to our communities.

Overall, we looked at ways and committed ourselves to teach and encourage new behaviors in regional innovation and economic growth. There will be another conference in June at Baldwin-Wallace and I hope that more will be there because the depth of the experience depends upon the participation, stories, and comments of those at the table.

Needing New Behaviors

2006-03-22T13:11:00.000-05:00

I fully agree with Guhan Venkatu who is an economic analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, that the reasons for Cleveland’s woes are not what are commonly cited. Guhan Venkatu presented an economic commentary for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland titled “Cleveland (on the) Rocks,” February 2006; posted March 2006 which may be read here. However, the reasons put forward by Venkatu fail to take into account what I feel may be the most major factor in Cleveland’s failure to thrive. Cited, but taking a minor position, are lack of qualified workers, the quality of life, access to transportation or distribution networks, or regional regulation and tax policies. Many of those problems may also be more perceived than actual.

Cleveland has long had a problem with the behavior of its leaders in relationship to each other and to new entrepreneurs. The region needs to build an aura of trust and collaboration. The collaboration needs to be that which encourages individual identity without the fear engendered by the thought of consolidation.

Cleveland leaders need to encourage all levels of entrepreneurship from concept, startup, mid-market, and maturity. Open communication also needs to take place. We need to have strategic thinking that leads to strategic doing rather than strategic planning. Time and again over the last several decades consultants have come in issuing strategic plans over eighteen month periods, saying the same thing. The region holds feel good events with little or no focus on how and where we move forward. We finance the flash that brings stars to the eyes but which soon fades. We look for the short term gain, especially for real estate developers and the construction industry which fail to provide for sustainable economic development.

We all need to work with our schools, colleges, universities, and libraries to teach new models of behavior, treating each other in ways that build mutual respect and trust. We need to re-envision our agendas into categories that are less narrowing: envision brainpower versus education, collaborative networks versus hierarchies, wealth creation versus command and control.

Social Network Analysis

2006-02-19T08:16:00.000-05:00

The picture here is that of a network map utilizing the software of Valdis Krebs. (see OrgNet.com) Valdis is someone with whom I collaborate in my work in Northeast Ohio. The software helps visualize collaboration within a cluster of individuals and organizations and creates a method of analyzing changes and growth in relationships.

We are using the software to show the impact of work in regional economic development utilizing open source economic development methods developed and implemented by Ed Morrison, Betsey Merkel, Susan Altshuler, myself and I-Open partners. (see I-Open) The nodes at the center of clusters represent people who have attended civic forums regarding developing a innovation network in Midtown Cleveland. Those attending have been asked to submit the names of those with whom they have shared ideas, mentored, or received advice.

There are some people who have attended who are also on the submitted lists and there are some people who are on several submitters' lists.

People Make the Space

2006-02-06T11:53:00.000-05:00

I work in a large room with two doors and no windows. One door opens onto a hallway with the opposite wall all windows so that by opening our door I see outside and can determine whether it is day or night. There are three large support columns in the office which is about fifty feet by thirty feet. We have three desks and three tables, a mixture of chairs, old office furniture stored by a business down the hall, and until recently a collection of mis-matched office partitions leaning against one wall. All of the items of furniture are well used loaners from the building and the staff.

The room is painted white with much fluorescent lighting. It used to be the library for the Regional Sewer District. One might think that such a space would be very confining, but I have not yet mentioned what is also in this space. This space is filled with innovative minds that are dedicated to building the economy in the region. These are people who are open and honest and live by building trusting relationships with and between others. There are multiple initiatives posted on the wall on constantly changing working papers.

Every day that I am there, there are people sticking their heads in to say hello, comment on what they or their organizations are thinking and doing. They want to discuss their ideas, our ideas, or someone else's ideas. Often they grab a cup of coffee and a cookie or bagel. Our office and forums seem to run on cookies and coffee.

There are days there is so much interesting conversation andstrategicc doing that it is hard for me to get done those tasks which I had planned for myself. All of the activity makes the day challenging as well as fun and rewarding.

And, as often is the case, it is the people that make the space. Come be part of it.

Open Source Networking

2006-01-16T11:13:00.000-05:00

We all utilize in our verbal communications words and phrases that have multiple meanings, are unclear, or have been hijacked to have specific but inappropriate meanings. These words are often referred to as “code words”. In our communications we need to be careful not to abuse language in creating code words or to use phrases that will be misinterpreted.

One such word that has come into such a code realm is networking. When we use the word networking, do we mean building a collaborative network? Do we mean introducing person A to person B? Do we mean suggesting that person A contact person B? Do we mean building our own social network?

As so many have abused the concept, for many networking has become a negative practice. What does networking really mean? If it can be used both to describe using contacts to achieve a personal ends as well as to describe collaborative behavior, then we need to make clear each time we use the word what it means. Either that or not use the word but use a word or phrase which will more appropriately describe what is intended.

What we say may clearly mean one thing to a certain group of people but something else entirely to another. Such a phrase is Open Source. Those in the information technology field understand it fairly well, economic development professionals in another way, and the general public not at all. The general public may try to interpret it looking at the words open and source but what comes out is not what is meant.

The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment

2006-01-16T10:16:00.000-05:00

On this day of celebration of Martin Luther King, I quote from the sermon given by The Reverend Martin Luther King at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights on May 14, 1963 from the pulpit to an overflowing church. In it he asks all of us to be maladjusted in terms of not accepting the bigotry of religion and society. The same applies to the acceptance of the old way of behaving in the economic arena: needing approval from the powerful, accepting short term gains as the ends, dealing with each other in uncollaborative and unethical ways.

There are many technical words in every academic discipline which become stereotyped and cliché. I want to mention one of these words. It is the word maladjustment. It is a great technical word in modern psychology, which has become a ringing cry. It is the product, or the modern child, of psychology.
We all want to live the well-adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic personalities, but I must be honest with you by saying that there are some things within our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted, and to which I call all men of good will to be maladjusted until the good society is realized.I must confess that I will never adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I will never become adjusted to religious bigotry. I will never adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many and give luxuries to the few. I will never become adjusted to the madness of militarism: the self-defeating effects of physical violence. In a day when Sputniks and Explorers are dashing through outer space, guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death throughout the stratosphere, no nation can win a war. There is no longer a choice between violence and non-violence. It is either non-violence or non-existence. The alternative to disarmament, the alternative to suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and working toward disarming the whole world, may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation. I never intend to adjust to the madness of militarism.
It may well be the greatest need of the hour, the greatest need of our world, to have more maladjustment. This is why I am calling for the immediate formation of a new organization, “The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.” There is a need for men and women to be as maladjusted as the prophet Amos. In his day, in the midst of injustices, his proud words echo across the centuries, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” There is a need for men and women today to be as maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln, who had the vision to see that this nation could not exist half-slave and half-free. There is a need for us to be as maladjusted as Jefferson, who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery cried with words rising to cosmic proportions, “All men are created equal.” There is a need for men to be as maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth, who could stand amid the men and women of his day, amid the intricacies of the formidable military machinery of the Roman Empire, to say, “He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword,” and cry out, “Love your enemies; bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.”
Through such maladjustment, we will be able to emerge from the darkened midnight of man’s inhumanity to man into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.
With this faith, we will be able to go on to carve a tower of hope on the mountain of despair and bring into being that great dream and create right here in America a nation where all men will live together in brotherhood and where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.

Read the whole sermon here .

Flying Away

2005-12-31T22:30:00.000-05:00

The first week of the New Year a friend of mine flies off from Cleveland to Phoenix in search of a satisfying and appropriate position of employment which he was unable to find in Cleveland. We had a going away party for him at Grovewood Tavern on Friday and I sure am disappointed that he had lost a vision of hope in Cleveland; but, when one has been looking for two years, you have to “do what you gotta do.” I am not disappointed in his decision, but in the situation that led to his leaving and I wish him well.

A mutual friend of ours is currently a community/civic leader there and is starting him off with a number of contacts in his network. The report is that Phoenix does not have the supportive communities that Cleveland does which is probably because Phoenix is one of the fastest growing regions in the country.

I am firmly embedded in Cleveland although I have been in his situation. As a sixth or seventh generation Clevelander my social networks continue to grow and my communities are tremendously supportive. I thoroughly enjoy what I am doing and the people I work with in all my endeavors.

Cleveland View from Fairmount & Coventry

2005-12-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

Applied Technology

2005-12-18T15:43:00.000-05:00

One of biggest problems is that we are so easily impressed with new technology and we haven’t yet learned to fully apply that which is current. For that reason, those older cities that are so reliant on manufacturing, when much of that industry moves away, the cities seem to be at a tremendous loss as to how to move forward. We need in all our regions to use our brainpower, to learn how technologies and manufactured goods can be best applied.

Lets learn how to use what we have and how use it better and in new ways. Like open source in software, opportunity and money is in the application, not in the software itself.

It is important to look for new innovative products, which is where the flash is, but we need more of how to use products to their best advantage.

Regionalism

2005-12-05T14:39:00.000-05:00

There is a definite problem with code words and possibly misleading misuse of words. Let's be clear of what we mean when we have discussions. Words and practices can all be misused and abused: look at regionalism, networking, collaboration, teamwork.

Let’s look at regionalism. When someone says "Regionalism" what do they mean?

Are they talking about a new regional government overseeing the operation of the region?

Are they talking about an old regional government overseeing the region?

Are they talking about a new non-profit organization doing the regional thing for all the participating local bodies?

Are they talking about local bodies openly collaborating for the betterment of the region?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of the above?

I certainly believe that maintaining the individuality of the local organizations and having them work openly together is the best way to improve Northeast Ohio. We don't need another organization doing the collaborating work that individual organization should be doing. We need organizations and individuals teaching and encouraging all in the civic space to build open networks of collaboration.

Rather than merging towns, cities, businesses, we should consider working together in an open collaborative way in which costs are reduced but individuality is maintained.

How can the City of Cleveland expect regionalism to work when it is still having problems with its own internal regional politics: the ward system? Perhaps the city should consider having its council elected at large so as to lessen the infighting that continues to distract from many of the real problems. Or at least learn and practice open collaboration.

Pay To Play in the Network Arena

2005-11-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

Why do we allow ourselves to be kept out of the box and impact our livelihood? All too often, business leaders are met with roadblocks which are more easily worked around with the assistance of other business owners. This collaboration is networking at its best.

Why is it that there are exclusive business clubs/organizations in communities where business is at a standstill or receding that continue to put a premium price on networking? As an example see an association of small businesses in Northeast Ohio which advertises that for a $1,000/year membership; "This membership level is designed to give you greater opportunities to network with other leading area companies, increase your visibility in the community." An organization such as this does not appear to be promoting small businesses but rather raising money for other purposes and promoting businesses which have the backing of the establishment.

There are many legitimate costs of doing business, but paying to network should not be one of them.

All business owners need to know that that box is the box that they need to think out of, the box which restricts membership, the box which says that permission is needed. Business owners/entrepreneurs need to know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the region just like them, who would love to share information, ideas, resources. Businesses need to talk with their competitors, suppliers, and customers as well as neighbors.

A resource which many business people are discovering is their local library. Many libraries are partnering with business owners and presenting business informational programs and civic forums. Networking in the civic space is free or at least no more costly the the time you take to particpate.

[see I-Open and its links]

Box Thinking

2005-10-03T12:36:00.000-04:00

All of us have participated in discussions of working outside or inside the box. Several questions come to mind:
Are there boxes within boxes?

Who constructed the box?

Who maintains the box?

Are there box police?

We find in tightly hierarchical society smaller boxes with those inside closely networked and linked.

Encouraging thinking outside the box causes pain and expense to some possibly due to perceived change, chaos or potential chaos, or lack of control.

Too many people thinking outside the box without any control leads to chaos and much inefficient behavior.

Many types of business, especially those in idea creation, encourage thinking outside the box encouraging innovation, new ways of thinking, perceiving, and doing.

There is probably always going to be a need for people thinking outside the box with unlimited control, close to chaos primarily because it causes many others to think beyond where they have limited themselves. However, in many regions the boxes are too tightly drawn and controlled.

Allowing only thinking within the box gives control to those who are already there and to those who create and maintain the box. It is exclusive in that those outside are not supported by the community.

There is a need to expand the box to be more inclusive of people and ideas. People previously (thinking) outside the box are not included and linkings and connections are encouraged and more readily accepted as there is less threat of chaos. New linkings encourage economic growth. There then is greater possibility of innovation within the box.

Thinking The Box

Train Warnings

Help the Economy: Buy More, Have a Baby

Out of the Corner of My Eye (fragment)

Don't Throw Stones to Break More Windows

Good Money, Bad Money, Neutral Money

Fear

I'll Know When I Get There

Travels

Rules as Commands vs Rules as Guidelines

Citizens Agenda for Cleveland Heights

Listen and Be Passionate

Footprint Tradeoff

Diminished Thought

Do You Know Someone Who is Out of Work?

Harnessing the Energy of Fear

Our Money vs. Government Money

Voting

The Value of Community

Calling Me

Watkins Glen State Park

It Will Come Back to Bite Us in the End

Customer Service

Loss of Focus

Diversity is Over Valued

Change no, growth yes.

Rev Martin Luther King Jr in Cleveland Heights 1963

Address delivered byTHE REVEREND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., Ph.D.May 14, 1963at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

THE RIGHT REVEREND BEVERLEY D. TUCKER’S INTRODUCTION

THE SERMON

Moving Forward

Trust in the Digital Age

Universal Service

Ode to a Dead Horse (Cleveland Economic Development in Action)

History is in the Telling

Have You Done Your Part Today?

National Revenue Sharing

Economic Development: Thinking With Our Brains and Hearts

Old Behavior: Command and Control

Accountability in Community

Moving from Diversity into Community

The Questions Unite Us

Community Investment

Muck and Mire of Media Manipulation

Taking the Easy Way

Accountability

Are Apes Descended from Man?

Way of Life

Open to New Ways

It's All About Collaboration

The Perfect Wave

Spelling “Team” With an “I”

Living with a Disability

"Strap on Your Goggles!"

Sustainable Activity

Investments in Our Children

Its Time For Commitment

New Approaches to Economic Development

Needing New Behaviors

Social Network Analysis

People Make the Space

Open Source Networking

The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment

Flying Away

Cleveland View from Fairmount & Coventry

Applied Technology

Regionalism

Pay To Play in the Network Arena

Box Thinking

Address delivered by

THE REVEREND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., Ph.D.

May 14, 1963

at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church