Are you willing to share your thoughts, mistakes, and other foibles, not to mention your wins and triumphs? Have you ever been in a strategic planning session, workshop, or presentation, and suddenly, there is an unexpected portion of the session where you have to interact with people at your table…

I argue that Pickleball players are in flow while playing. Here are the reasons why. I recently watched a Pickleball rally that lasted about 5 minutes long. A five-minute rally seems long. I can’t recall a tennis match rally, meaning the ball is being batted back and forth without mistakes…

How can community leaders and economic developers create a toolbox to help local businesses with climate change? By Martin Karl Vanags I have moved several times in my career to three different states and back again to my hometown. With all of those moves, I have dragged various things with…

My recently published guidebook was a step-by-step roadmap for creating the perfect environment for a business formation-centric community. In other words, the type of community that comprehensively provides a system for multiple business formations. The idea is that the more businesses that are started in your community, the more opportunities…

Is wisdom an antiquated idea whose era has passed? Or should we cultivate it to push back against the law of unintended consequences. I share my thoughts in this post. In a recent post by Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy, former “mentern” at Airbnb, and founder of…

As an adult while visiting my Mother one weekend I noted that she had a copy of the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune laying by the front door.* I was impressed that she was expanding her world and reading about the bigger issues of the day via the Tribune…

Today we are celebrating three days: International Day of Women and Girls in Science, National Inventors Day and Thomas Edison’s Birthday. These all have something in common. Let’s start with Thomas Edison. We grow up learning that Edison invented the lightbulb. He actually improved the lightbulb. He also worked very…

Why Climate Change can be an Opportunity for Economic Development Are you not sure what to do about economic development from an economic development perspective? Let’s face it. There are still some people out there that are not convinced. They’re not convinced climate change is an issue that requires our…

You have read my essays about being in flow. You might be thinking to yourself that being in flow is for the most creative and important of endeavors. Certainly flow can be used to generate the important work you do. …