“Competition makes us faster, collaboration makes us better.” –Unknown Economic development is a fiercely competitive industry. When we battle it out against other communities to win more and better jobs for our communities, it’s easy to get sucked into fighting mode. Yet, at the same time, collaboration is key to driving the work forward and…

“It was a tough decision to move; in Phoenix I was able to drive around  and see the impact of my years invested first-hand. But I was ready for a new challenge.” –Mitchel Allen With a huge move under his belt in 2021, Mitchel Allen is ready for 2022 and all it has in store.…

“Our life is the sum total of all the decisions we make every day, and those decisions are determined by our priorities.” –Myles Munroe We’ve all been there. You get to the end of the day and feel you put out a lot of fires but you haven’t done any work that makes an impact,…

“The more, and earlier, that companies can give up control, the more you develop the right kind of self-correcting culture where employees will be your biggest advocate.” –Katy Shields Today kicks off the first episode in a three-part series exploring several leadership conundrums. Over the next three weeks we will discuss how to make decisions…

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” –Abraham Lincoln As 2022 has already taken us by storm, there’s no better time than now to evaluate our strategies for the year. Just like chef’s use “mise en place” to gather all their ingredients and…

“For me, maximum flexibility is key. The ability to transition as things change is really important, as is the ability to relate to people that are coming from different circumstances and places.” –Charles Wood What better way to launch into the new year than by learning from an economic developer truly moving the needle on…

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.” –Alan Cohen Coming out of 2020, we thought there couldn’t be a wilder year. Coming to the close of 2021, we might have been wrong! All signs point to a busy year leading to another busy year. How are…

“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” –Steve Jobs We all know that one coworker that you can count on for anything. As soon as you need help you automatically think of them. But what is it that makes that person such a team player?…

“If you can think of the project through a different lens, there is often a way you can leverage a non-traditional tool to fit the project you’re working on.” –Joe Agostinelli The cost of materials and goods for projects is a topic we are all too familiar with right now. It often seems that incentive…

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” –Barack Obama As this year comes to a close and a new year looms, lots of people are thinking about new year’s resolutions, setting goals for next year, and working on strategies…