060917

What is Broken and How Would I Fix It?

What if what’s broken is us? We the people became fragmented, narrow-minded and comfortable in our separate worlds, watching as we waited for someone else to save us. “It” covers a lot of ground—infrastructure, water shortages, preventable chronic health issues, disappearing middle class, predatory legal and financial systems, entitlement mentality, cranky and childish political culture… […]

elevate

Elevate California – California 2017 Economic Summit

We are seeing the same themes and conversations happening everywhere we look… Complex problems require a new way of thinking and acting together. (Systems approach to intractable issues) We are all connected. (“What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.) Solutions to social, environmental and economic challenges are interdependent. (Triple-bottom-line) As […]

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Solutions

During every conversation there are great ideas. Reflection turns them into golden nuggets. Action turns them into new ways of thinking and acting. Examples: “People involved in work or pursuing work don’t create social problems.” “Communities with an entrepreneurial culture flourish. Those that don’t, perish.” “Programs must be self-sustaining or they will die.” If you […]

closegap

Both/And Closes the Gap

As we continue to advance the Career & Technical Education Initiative, the equal importance of inner and outer skills development is clear. Knowledge keeps changing. The ability to learn; adapt; influence across networks; initiate; communicate; access, analyze and apply information are all essential success skills. The challenge–how to model and teach these in systems designed for […]

jobs

Jobs, Workforce, Regions–What’s Up

In 2011, Brookings and the Rockefeller Foundation launched the Project on State and Metropolitan Innovation (PSMI), a five-year initiative to expand economic growth and opportunity in metropolitan regions. http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2015/07/23-expanding-growth-opportunity-carlson What they have learned will be very familiar: Leaders need to be able to work across programmatic and jurisdictional boundaries to implement the new model, both […]

constitution

Constitution Day – In Case You Missed It

Constitution Day at Fresno State was inspiring and sobering. The panel–amazing! Juan Arambula, Justice Rosendo Pena, Esmeralda Soria, Lorenzo Rios, Ismail Ali. Gratitude, commitment, responsibility…all were key themes as they expressed their views about being an American citizen. Jefferson said “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the […]