The blog discusses current affairs and development of national economic and social health through unique idea generation. Consider the blog a type of thought experiment where ideas are generated to be pondered but should never be considered definitive as a final conclusion. It is just a pathway to understanding and one may equally reject as accept ideas as theoretical dribble. New perspectives, new opportunities, for a new generation. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”—Thomas Jefferson
War is so destructive and when people have weapons and are working with a larger military they feel a sense of power. Lives are often discounted and good judgement is sometimes thrown to the side. Whether this reactor fire was started by an accidental shelling, a rogue soldier/unit, or intentional targeting, a war does not justify it as a legitimate target. Conflict should stay far way from this area and staff should be allowed to run the reactor without any interference. Regardless of who eventually wins, we can say that the reactor will be of benefit. If intentional shelling has occurred, and it was ordered as a target, we should be frightened with the thought process (I suspect it was a mistake but one doesn't really know.)
How to resolve that issue?
-Commitment to keep the reactor, its power source, and the area free from conflict and interference.
-A commitment from both sides to keep the reactors running.
We talk a lot about values but in real life it would seem that 70% have solid values but 30% couldn't care less. When we move into politics (power) and business (wealth) we find that what we say and do could be a little different (I guess that is the way it is in life in general). The values of thinking about others (and your nation) above yourself is worth more than the short sighted nature of self gain. Nations are built by loyalty to core principles and destroyed by selfishness and lack of values.
Social stability relies on many things but mostly it relies on values. Who we are, what we believe, who we promote, how we decide issues, where we put our resources, and values we profess to hold. The espoused values and the enacted values should be the same. People within our institutions must have positive prosocial values or they put us all at risk.
Espoused values are the values we tell each other we believe in. People say all types of things to get what they want and while most people honestly believe in those things there are many who don't. Much of it is lip service while some of it is heart felt.
Enacted values are the ones that we know to be true even though they may be the same or different than our espoused values. These are the values that become part of our everyday lives and must be followed to effectively work within "the system".
There are times when espoused and enacted values are different. This is where people begin to realize on a subconscious, sometimes conscious level, that this is how things are done in the "real world" are different than what is being said. We see that when college students take an ethics class and then find out once they start their jobs the workplace isn't exactly ethical (Think of whose fault that is and whether or not its a good thing.). We may find that in the legal profession where people with the best lawyers (most money) win or in the political structure where regularly dishonesty gets votes (Radical politics where anything goes!).
This is what I believe and I'm not 100% sure that I always live my espoused values perfectly but I certainly try (I can even be disappointed in myself sometimes but that is the folly of human nature. I think I have done a pretty good job at it...but am not perfect by any means.). If I was hiring someone I might look for a few of the following (doesn't matter the occupation but is even more important for positions of power.)
-Honesty and ethics.
-Innovation and creativity.
-Loyalty and duty.
-Work ethic
-Kindness and humility.
-Courage and politeness.
-Belief in something greater than self.
-The ability to reduce bias and judge fairly
-Critical thinking and evidence based management.
-The ability to work with others.
-Open-minded and the ability to role reverse.
-I'm sure there is more.....
If we want a nation that will succeed the best and brightest with the proper skills must rise. If we want to fail then we will fail by our selfishness and our lack of values. Its a choice that our leaders must decide....even if some of them aren't truly qualified to make choices over the rest of us.
People love events and fun towns that retain current residents and draw new residents are places that people enjoy. Ranging from simple concerts to bike rides and wine tasting different types of events draw different types of people (Why I suggest a type of branding for cities so they know who they want to draw, retain, and attract.). Attracting entrepreneurs and digital nomads will rest on hosting the events that they may enjoy while still balancing the needs of local residents (Attracting entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and investors can come in the same batch.) You can seem some of the March events in Escanaba and Marquette below.
Because many small towns like Escanaba don't always have those resources available to host certain types of large events they can hedge many smaller events to create even more economic benefit (While improving capacity). I would suggest using many small and augment larger regional draw events to build capacity and maximize local benefits. You can read a little more about that in A 'Theoretical Comparison of the Economic Impact of Large and Small Events'
Sugar Bash March 5th, Live at Liegh's: Karen Collier March 11th It’s Your Day Bridal Expo March 13th Library "Move your way to healthier you" March 8th Great Lakes Sports Fisherman Banquet March 12th 10th Annual Gladstone Pub Crawl March 12th. MSO and Bay College Present Xiaoya Liu in Concert March 14th Silk Scarf Painting with Diane Kribs-Mays March 23rd
MARQUETTE EVENTS
Travel Marquette Listed a few fun options (More Info on Travel Marquette). Marquette is about an hour drive from Escanaba and hosts one of the larger university towns in the area (NMU). A few events are.....
March:
3/5 & 3/12 | Upper Michigan Ice Races 3/6-3/12 | Downtown Marquette Restaurant Week 3/11 | Spread Goodness Day 3/19 | Marquette Polar Plunge 3/23 | Bodega Brew Battle 3/23-3/25 | NMU Jazz Festival April: 4/9 | Festival of the Angry Bear
A little something on panning events and festivals....
ADP released its February 2022 numbers. You can gain access to the report HERE. Small business is down 96K and Franchises are up 45K. Total private payrolls are up 475K. Click on the national report HERE and you will notice that small business is down, midsize companies are up, and large companies are up. There are different ways to interpret this may have to do with nature of companies and the increase in investments.
What I would like to see is what is going on with imports-exports going forward a few months and see if there are any improvements there (Its not a perfect thing you can just trying and understand.). There are some other statistics on the page that show Leisure & Hospitality along with Trade, Transportation & Utilities increased the most.
I should also state that a healthy economy will have a solid mix of small, mid and large businesses in order to grease the wheels of capital dispersion as well as hedge against various market factors. Sometimes small business might be up and large business down. Small business also encourages greater innovation in society as new ideas are pushed to develop for scalability and public consumption. That can't happen as well in many large and clunky companies. Policies should focus on economic resilience and growth with multiple points of market entry for entrepreneurs and workers.
The UN put forward an interesting vote where 141 countries demand Russia withdraw, 5 against withdrawal and 35 abstentions. What is interesting is that the countries against seem to have similarities in management style. What might also be interesting is whether or not most of the abstentions are big trading partners with Russia. I looked it up briefly and there appears to be some loose association of trade, governance style and voting (See Worlds Top Exports, OEC, WITS, US Trade Rep.
The big question is what is next? My guess is that there will be additional financial and military support for Ukraine. China will also likely start feeling some pressure as most of the nations voice support and that could also impact future Chinese trade if they are seen as taking advantage of the situation (I'm not saying this is or isn't happening but under some circumstances might be seen this way by some of the UN members. 🤷 I suspect they will just maintain neutrality and ask for peaceful resolution to stay as clear as possible from the situation. They may also find advantage in a weaker Russia that is forced to trade with them to keep its economy hobbling forward and obtain necessary goods.)
Forms are forms and we love forms but sometimes forms get in the way of getting things done (I'm starting to form an opinion on too many forms. 😏 ). I'm the type of person who is often buried in paperwork and have become accustomed to it as a way of life. The problem is that forms are awesome when they work but they also create a lot of red tape that makes basics cumbersome. We are in the need of a new and/or in great shape used grass truck for one of our fire departments. The problem is that we aren't sure where we can get the money and when we find places that may have resources we often find there are also lots of other applicants and lots paperwork needed; often more than volunteer departments can handle without professional grant writers.😬
Cutting the Red Tape.....
Red tape is a concept where everything is bogged down in bureaucratic "necessities" that don't reflect the realities of the lives we live. They are designed to create paper trails and manage complex systems but aren't necessarily designed to get the work done in an efficient manner. Thus there is a balance between having the right information you need and ensuring that programs are effective and efficient.
According to the article, ' Assessment: Do You Know How Bureaucratic Your Organization Is? ' in the Harvard Business Review the cost of bureaucracy costs the U.S. $3 trillion dollars a year and costs OECD countries $9 trillion. The article indicates that waste often falls into the follow categories (Hamel & Zanini, 2017, para 4):
-Bloat: too many managers, administrators, and management layers -Friction: too much busywork that slows down decision making -Insularity: too much time spent on internal issues -Disempowerment: too many constraints on autonomy -Risk Aversion: too many barriers to risk taking -Inertia: too many impediments to proactive change -Politics: too much energy devoted to gaining power and influence
Thinking through some of the ways we can reduce government bureaucracy is to streamline operations and in turn develop more human to human contact. While online forms still work in this situation there should be a human guide readily available. Small fire departments will struggle with the ability to navigate the complex web of paperwork and will often be pushed out by other departments that have grant writers. Complexity doesn't always work, even if it maintains control, it can sometimes hamper the things we need the most (Most firefighting is done by volunteer departments.).
I know of a fire department that needs a grass truck and has been looking diligently around for over a year with no luck. In a rural area we get a number of grass calls a year because of the forest and easy burn fuel. A bad spark could do millions in damage. Lots of grass fires that run out of control. I have driven that truck and let me say that while it runs it also has lots of play in the steering, runs rough, and is starting to show its age. Fixing it is also expensive and parts are not easy to obtain. If you have $100K and/or a vehicle (tax deductible as we are a non-profit)that can be used for grass fires contact ESC. Vol. Fire Dept. and Escanaba TWP and ESC Twp Vol Fire Dept. Facebook.
Hamel, G. and Zanini, M. (2017). Assessment: Do You Know How Bureaucratic Your Organization Is? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 2nd, 2022 from https://hbr.org/2017/05/assessment-do-you-know-how-bureaucratic-your-organization-is#:~:text=By%20our%20estimates%2C%20an%20excess,substantial%2C%20so%20are%20the%20hurdles.
President Biden finished his State of the Union Address 2022. People are likely tuned in all around the world. Of course some of the ideas are awesome and some are going to be debated. You must make your own choices and decisions on what you agree and disagree with. One thing we can all agree upon is that building a stronger and more prosperous nation that ensures democracy continues to thrive against challenges is important. I put down a number of key points below (Don't mind the grammar and spelling mistakes...I'm just trying to get it all down. :) )
-Discussion on Russia and isolation of the nation. It appears the world is responding to the invasion of Ukraine. The conflict may have wakened Western nations to the risks of the future (The objective is to free Ukraine and then after that perhaps we can think about reconnecting with the average Russian citizen. I wonder if there is a way to isolate the top with minimal impact on the average citizen. 🤔)
-Releasing in conjunction with allies 60 million oil barrels to blunt oil prices and help Ukraine.
-There was some booing on the comment of previous tax cuts and then cheering on American Rescue Plan (Kind of interesting to watch politics in action. Boing Boing Boing!😮)
-Bottom up isn't necessarily a bad thing and certainly part of the solution (It takes investors, small businesses, large businesses, and workers to make it happen. I would say bottom, top, and middle approach.)
-Good points on infrastructure and a decade of growth. If we do it right, each administration builds off of the last, we can become the advanced manufacturing Digital Era/Information Age nation. That takes commitment from both Republicans and Democrats that can see things in different ways but can balance through bi-partisanship to find solutions.
-Buying American and supporting American businesses is probably the right approach (We might want to develop rapid innovation systems to ensure our lagging industries quickly lead the market.)
-Bi-Partisan Innovation Act (I need to read this in more detail.) Research and development is paramount to industry growth (I have a couple of ideas on how to funnel funding into developmental clusters).
-$20 Billion computer chip semi conductor site in Ohio. (Intel). They may bump it up to $100 billion with innovation bill passed. Good for them...we also need one in Michigan.
-Electric vehicles are taking off in the U.S. and companies are reinvesting. That will also likely lead to space advances and other technological lines. There are similar technologies between the industries.
(Without change in the way we think we will suffer from lack of investment and opportunities. We are starting to better manage the ship and once we have a well groomed R and D team working as single unit the momentum and speed will likely continue to through singularity of purpose; approaches may be different but the goal should be the same.)
-People yelling USA is awesome! Nationalism can take new and smarter turn where evidence based decision making is central to our approaches that leads to stronger outcomes. Patriotism isn't just waving flags it is about doing what is necessary to help our nation compete and overcome. We all have a stake in how things turn out.
-Green initiatives are generally a good thing especially if they are cost effective.
-Some discussion on taxes. There is likely some disagreement over taxes and what is the best approach. Top-Down, Bottom-Up, or something else.
-Chief prosecutor for pandemic fraud to be announced.
-Discussion on workers and minimum wage.
-Antiviral pills at no cost.
-Discussion on restoring trust with officers and creating safer streets. I agree that funding, training/tactics, transparency, and community engagement is important for modern policing.
-Securing borders and fixing immigration system.
-Discussion on abortion rights (Not touching this one. Highly contentious!)
-80 bipartisan bills. That is movement.
-Opioid epidemic is still an issue. Wow...23 million addicts in recovery! 😢
-Mental health (I've seen people do some terrible things because of mental health and yet they have no clue they are wrong or are suffering.)
-Protecting Children from targeted ads or collecting unnecessary information. Big data is important and it is something that often gets stolen. Thus updating our data infrastructure is helpful.
-Support our veterans. More research into causes of injuries and then fixing those problems.
-The goal is to reduce cancer and turn them into treatable disease.
-245 Years of our nation. We are stronger and keep getting stronger. Its our moment to overcome challenges of our time.
An interesting discussion on Generation Z. An environment of fear and struggle. Discussions on capitalism and the connection of dots that puts pressure on Capitalism to perform. A quick discussion on American politics and how this relates to the young generation. Eye opening on how to engage younger people and encourage them to activate for the betterment of their country. 2X as many young people voted than other generations. Connecting with them is important but many or our leaders are not doing a great job in this regard. Older people often discount this group but it is their responsibility to enhance them as much as possible.
(In my perspective we should encourage business and greater avenues for financial growth of the general population. There are risks by having too much money concentrated into the hands of a few people. Capitalism means that when you work hard, invent ideas, and do the right thing they should be able to earn more opportunities. Gen Z wants a more modern version of Capitalism. I can't disagree with them. We are a society and we must ensure we are all part of the same system. I've seen huge disparities in life that seemed inherently unfair.. Let them strive and let them improve their lives....we just need to get out of their way and ensure that prosocial, entrepreneurial and service oriented behaviors have a corresponding benefit. Its hard to engage if society has locked up much of the benefits of doing so for an "elite" class of people. I'm not saying it is always that way but that it certain has some perceptual truth to it. The system rests on this generation and the engagement of the masses. )
Delta County MI. Surrounded by Forests and Waterfront
Market segmentation is a process of breaking down the market to find the place where it is best to focus a businesses efforts to create the highest ROI on marketing dollars. Whether one is engaged in promoting their business, tourism to a specific area, working on a political campaign, or trying to share an idea there will be some that will be more receptive to new ideas and some that won't. Finding out which segment of the market is most likely to respond to a particular marketing piece is going to return the most value for the effort. Dr. Mark Camilleri in his work entitled, 'Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. In Travel Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product' provides some insight into different market segmentation strategies that include demographic segmentation, geographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation, behavioral segmentation and product related segmentation. The piece provides a solid overview within a short paper on the different ways of promoting reaching intended markets.
As an example, I have been exploring ways to develop the small town of Escanaba Michigan into an innovative cluster by hedging start-ups, outdoor tourism, existing small batch manufacturing, shipping, government spending, a growing digital nomad trend to bolster the local economy and make it more resilient to environmental changes (No idea if that will actually happen but its fun to sort of think about. It takes a lot of hands to make transformational change. Advice on Change)
One of things I could do is go through each of the different segmentation strategies listed above and further define the economic cluster elements (cluster means certain businesses and activities that enhance each other to create greater value than the individual parts) to determine who would be most likely to invest and/or relocate to fill that need. Once that has happens one could find the similarities among them to create a brand and marketing mix (products, prices, channels, and promotional tactics) that can be used to strengthen the cluster/economy.
What we should learn is that marketing principles aren't just for businesses alone but can also be used in politics, economic development, and general awareness. It is a process of researching and understanding different aspects of the market to ensure that the message reaches the intended audience that is most likely to respond. It provides insight into the specific channels the target market uses and the manner in which they want to understand it. Using further psychological principles of cognitive engagement we are able cater the messages to grab the attention of and encourage an active response.
Camilleri, M. A. (2018). Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. In Travel Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product (Chapter 4, pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham, Switzerland.
Mentoring is an important part of grooming and developing people within the workplace. As we continue to develop our human talent to create innovation that encourages our nation to adapt we might also consider some of the benefits of workplace mentoring. Mentoring provides opportunities for executives to take promising candidates and develop them to higher states of performance. Mentoring moves beyond "feel good" practices and helps connect a new generation of leaders to the values and wisdom of senior scholars, civil leaders, military masters, and business gurus.
The Value of Mentoring:
I came across this really great article that has an overview of some mentoring statistics by Nicola Cronin entitled, 'The Importance of Mentoring in the Workplace'. It discusses how mentoring is an important part of many Fortune 500 companies and leads to increased retention, more opportunities, and value to organizations (55% feel that mentoring is profitable. Its not a big number but there are lots of other positive stats that aren't likely easy to measure that would likely put if into a solid 60%+ benefit. Thus, overall its beneficial for organizations.).
The Skills Needed Mentoring:
Dr. Linda Phillips-Jones discusses the skills needed in mentoring relationships of which listening, building trust, and encouraging are of the top three. You can read more about that in, "Skills of Successful Mentoring: Competencies of Outstanding Mentors and Mentees' Mentoring is a relationship building exercise where promising recruits have someone to connect with and encourage them to think through all of the options before making decisions. Giving advice and developing relationships truly connects people to their organizations and their missions.
Good or Bad for Your Organization?
It depends on how you use it. If we think in terms of retention, connecting generations, transferring knowledge, innovation, diversity and developing human talent we can see that benefits might move beyond current statistics and into a broader based impact. Considering we need new leaders that come from many different backgrounds I would say mentoring, especially mentoring people different than yourself, leads to new ideas reaching the right people and practical knowledge that rounds out youthful enthusiasm for organizational improvement. A strong program is worth its weight in gold while a poor program will not experience full benefits for the organization or the people involved. The numbers appear to be justifiable but the long term benefits might not be easy to calculate.
