So often economic development focuses on job creation, new venture creation, and the connection of resources to opportunity.  While these are all important drivers of economic growth, we must also consider the impacts of sound ethical consumer and business practices.  On the consumer side, customers of businesses need to understand the terms of business transactions and employ sound money managment techiques to ensure transactions are conducted resource efficiently.  This enables consumers to save more, and in time not only enhance quality of life but  accumulate  savings which eventually have greater economic impact and contribution - allowing the consumer to spend more, generate greater tax revenue for all levels of government, inspire diverse investments or even new business ventures.

 I was truly inspired to write this entry by a photograph provided by one concerned citizen, Jeff Buster, which you can find here.  We need to reach out those functioning in such grey markets, driven by desperate circumstances to cross ethical lines to generate revenue.  We cannot fault the individual for his entrepreneurial moxie but we certainly need to prevent the vandalism, trespassing or other criminal activity often incorporated into these grey-market / black-market processes.   In short, the entrepreneurial energy needs to be channeled into completely legal venture opportunities.

I thought I'd post a few personal focus areas regarding 2006 and change efforts for the region.  We have so much to do, in so many areas.  In the spirit of the holistic view of sustainabilty and quality of life - I post my wish list for 2006 using our six-sphere framework:  these are broad outcomes, but i believe we can define specific action plans as discussion, dialogue, and inquiry continue.  Change, after all, begins the moment we ask the question!

Is it better to design systems of education that disregard parental involvement or is it better to design systems of education that better involve and integrate parents?  I know one motivation to sugggest the former might be frustration with the degree to which many parents have failed in supporting the education of their children.  Eliminating any expectations on the part of educational institutions regarding parenting might hold these institutions to a higher level of accountability for childhood development.  Is this really the way? 

Clean, Renewable Energy is the way, I couldn't agree more with Ed (Morrison) and his blog posting.  I recently posted some information regarding Biofuels - You can find that and some of my relevant comments here.  We have such a great position as a region and a state in several of these technologies- some surveys put us near the top in the nation for both Fuel Cell technology and Wind Power.  The prospects of a wind farm out in the Lake have become much more realistic in recent times - that project would make a signature statement much like a new signature bridge would for our city and region.  And as Ed so eloquently noted, moving to clean energy will translate bottom line to many new and interesting job possibilities and ultimately economic development.

Certain buzzwords in the Sustainability community are used widely but not clearly understood - I thought I'd address two of those here - sustainability and triple-bottom-line focus.  Sustainability is most commonly defined as 'Meeting the Needs of the present generation in such a way as not to compromise future generation's abilities to meet their own needs' (Bruntland Definition). This speaks to methods which not only maintain quality of life but preferably improve it.

        I have many thoughts on this topic, but let's start with the clear facts - secondhand smoke greatly increases the liklihood of a number of diseases not only for the smoker but all of those exposed to it.  So we can clearly prevent loss of life and years of people's lives who don't smoke by not allowing smoking in venues shared by non-smokers.  Having smoking and non-smoking sections cannot completely protect non-smokers- smoke diffuses across the border and still does harm.  And people in a rush will take 'first available' and simiply deal with the smoke or hope nobody actually smokes.

      Though it may be an inconvenience to make smokers go outside, especially in cold weather - this can actually have positive benefits for the smoker.  Not only will they likely smoke less, they will be more likely to connect with others as they congregate outside and finish their smokes.  I've seen this personally in States like New York where it is enforced as well as local establishments like AJ Rocco's, which incidentally was the first bar to go smoke free in Cleveland. 

I don't think there is a more valuable resource on our planet than great ideas - the creativity and brainpower that generates innovative ideas is the ultimate source for the creation of new value. Revolutionary new ideas become intellectual property that can be patented, licensed business processes and models, Most models I have seen work to generate new IP through research funding and then work to find the sources of funding for prototyping, development, and testing of the IP generated necessary to commercialize it. So ideation does not become innovation until this process goes full cycle. What I would like to see are systems that share IP generated at one source with thinkers and researchers at other sources who can offer improvements and insights that better the original before it becomes commercialized in its initial, more primitive form.

Several organizations in Northeast Ohio have wrangled with the concept of educational reform for decades, yet we have only seen incremental improvements over the years. More recently, change efforts have been ramped up, with survey and dialog based initiatives such as Voices and Choices and By the People currently in full swing. RealNEO has advocated educational reform since inception and has hosted City Club roundtable forums over the past year to address this very issue. All of these efforts have centered upon core challenges to address and these are as follows:

With great anticipation, I dive into the blogosphere with this initial entry.  My name is Sudhir Raghupathy and I am a recent graduate of the Weatherhead MBA program at Case, with specialties on Entrepreneurship and Organizational Behavior.