Know-How Exchange : Strategy

What I see in your example, and in increase of crime in a neighboring city-- and from my own personal experience in working with getting kids out of gangs: These all radiant from a lack of pride.

Pride in their community, their workplace and in themselves.

When people find their pride-- they contribute vs take from their community. They have no need for gang support. They will build rather than tear down.

Too much pride makes us pompous and out of touch. That is arrogancce vs pride. The right amount balances and makes us humble and caring.

I live in San Francisco, which is either considered progressive or socialistic (depending on one's viewpoint). So my viewpoint may not be the same as much of the rest of the country...

1) More environmental awareness - I hate kayaking in the San Francisco Bay and seeing plastic bags and such floating out to sea to join the great pacific garbage patch.

2) less driving (and more alternate transport - mass transit, biking, walking) - it drives me batty to hear that my sister (who lives in the suburbs) drives her kids the quarter mile each day to school and back. Bad for them and bad for the environment. And I can't image her queuing up in line at pickup/drop off time can be good for stress levels.

3) better schools and more school funding (even in these challenging times). California being a strong state recently was not based on low cost of doing business and lots of manufacturing jobs, but instead on highly educated population put together with research and money. Our cut backs in university funding could literally kill the state in the long run.

We need Asian carp. They eat everything. We're very soft in this city. The city runs well. Challengers would make us better...but that's also dangerous.

More right turn lanes. The main thoroughfare is a nightmare so buidling grows on the outskirts while local places go vacant. You can walk downtown at anytime of night ...well, at least until midnight...and feel safe. I do this a lot. Very small town feeling for 40,000 people.

Fewer State Farm offices. They're on every corner (I'm a client so not complaining)


Wow....I just realized what a great city this is!

Michael

Dear Randall,

I’m originally from the UK. I’ve lived here now for almost 11 years. I live in Wilmington, DE. Joe Biden’s Delaware home is literally two miles as the crow flies from where my wife and I live.

For those who care to, you can read more about Wilmington
(slogan: “A Place To Be Somebody”) here:

www.city-data.com/city/Wilmington-Delaware.html

There are areas of town that are extremely affluent (homes
valued at $5 million and more),and there are other areas where the streets and homes are a mess; the land that time and taxes forgot. For me, urban revitalization’s a big deal: give people pride and ownership.

This links to my second point: crime. Specifically, drug and gang-related crime. There’s a police officer for every 251 people in this city, but at times, that’s not enough. True, the CBD is one of the most heavily observed such areas in the USA with over $800,000’s worth of CCTV equipment.

But even so the crime rate in certain areas of the city is over two and half times the national average. Illegal hand guns, drugs, gangs a high unemployment rate, half the population as rich and white, half the population as poor and black: it’s a God damn powder keg.

Which leads to my third point: retraining and newer industries. Give people a mission, a reason to live and to live a better, richer, and more fulfilling life: The GM/Saturn factory nearby? Closed in July, 2009. DuPont and Bank of America layoffs too all add to the swelling unemployment rolls.

Hiring freezes are an everyday hit at companies still in business and it’s pretty dire. With the state’s tax incentives major employers ought to be lining up to set up shop here. Electronics, banking, insurance, biotechnology, education. The possibilities are endless.

Location: slap bang between NYC and D.C. Handy for Baltimore.
A skip to Philadelphia. Major airports close by two major ports (Baltimore and Wilmington), a great rail link and the major
through route of I-95.

So, rebuilt; retake the neighbourhoods, and re-light the fuse of
the economy.

I hope this helps.

Gary

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Randall-- a while ago you responded to a post and referenced a book. It intrigued me so I bought the book-- started reading and though I liked what I was reading-- something came up that I had to set the book aside interrupting my finishing it.

Well this weekend we've been helping my mother in law in the hospital and recovery-- we've been staying partially at her house -- a land without high speed internet. So I am doing a lot of reading. And I remembered-- I never finished that book! And last night-- the final chapter, #19 of the book Lovemarks gives the perfect answer and one that aligns with my post.

"What the World Needs Now-- The world needs Love. It needs optimism and inspiration if we are to deal with the pressing problems we face." "The trouble with being poor is that it takes up al your time". "The purpose of business, no matter what any economist tells you, is to create self esteem". "Businesses be up-front and transparent". "Producers who embrace consumers and communities by building Respect and inspiring Love"

We can't feel love or pride (as I called it) when we have a job we hate, sell a product we don't believe in, we foreclosed on our house, we filed bankruptcy, collect government subsidies. How can you feel empowered telling your dad, kids, family you have to move cause of any of the above? You will only feel pride too, when you accept responsibility for the success.

Your book also references the 3 P's, which is the topic of another great book, People, Product and Planet. This is where the green movement is heading which is virtually all of us now, -- it's not enough to make an eco product, it must be made sustainably, with a good work environment and we must turn a profit to remain open and serve our customers and employees.

I worked for a guy who owned 13 Pizza Huts-- I took and turned his worst producing unit, one he was sure he'd have to close and made it his best performing. The place was a disaster, health scores in the 60's (which meant you had to be reinspected to remain open) people walking thru the kitchen in their socks-- stepping into open pizza boxes strewn across the floor (and would later contain a shipped pizza). Our health code scores were in the 90's and we were usually the top store. (we were evaluated weekly-- I was never below 3rd).

My boss asked me how I turned that store around-- I told him I teach people to find their pride. (And he said he was in the biz 30 years -- has asked that question hundreds of times, and never got that for an answer). What pride do you have working in that kind of filth, and delivering a food product with the imprint of a shoe in the box? I am telling you cause I live it-- you take someone who doesn't think they have options, show them their pride and they can accomplish anything and will walk thru fire for you.

"The small, brace act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain light up with quite joy. It seems we are wired to cooperate".

I wish I could cut and paste this entire chapter. I read it 3x last nite. It certainly made my brain light up.

This is what I am thinking. We don't have the infostructure in place yet for leaping to the 3P's. But we will-- I just worked on a presentation for a company and it as a viable selling point.

We need to establish pride in our community. We're disconnected in that people don't feel the connection to their community. When you have that connection you automatically start to think how your actions impact others.

We have posted this before-- community service should be part of our school system. And I'd get them early-- from grade school. A 3rd grader can adopt a soldier, a person in a nursing home. They can build a plot in a community garden. If the area doesnt have community gardens, get the highschoolers to prepare a plot for the younger ones. Then, the younger ones give back to the highschoolers with a lunch of the rewards. Community service teaches people to lead. It certainly should be part of college with real projects and real actions. I was at a seminar a couple years ago that the nonprofit sector expected to genrate 600K jobs in the next 5 years-- with no plan where these people are coming from. If everyone gave back to their community-- not only would a lot of those openings be un-needed, in a way that establishes pride, but dollars donated to a cause can go to the cause vs administration of that cause.

2nd, bring back dignity to teaching. We have crappy teachers cause who would want that job? Its thankless, low paying-- and its difficult to do the job. Little Johnny's mom is up in arms cause Johnny is stressed to actually learn something. Thinking of reading --and that the state of AZ bases the projections for prision expansion on 7th grader literacy tests-- there is a big disconnect here. If a kid is having problems- establish a mentor problem of other kids-- the good readers helping the slower readers. Again, here we are establishing a connection and pride in community.

3rd, put dignity back in our politicians. We have crappy politicians cause-- who would want that job. We don't focus on what they do or track record-- despite what we say. They have evolved into celebrities. I agree with this article-- celebrity is the new religion. https://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/01/21/american-idol-and-the-death-of-the-a...

Michelle Obama's new haircut is reported just as Kate Goslin's new extensions. Not a single word about what Michelle did with the rest of the day. We look for great speaker and how we are entertained vs content. We hold politicians to the same values as celebrities. Tiger has an affair, Edwards has an affair-- we focus on that news. Warren Buffet could have 30-- and we'd just say "oh well", and focus on how he runs a company. Not so in politics, dragging a family's private lives into a fishbowl. We demand values, but we cannot talk about where those values often come from-- that separation of church and state-- another disconnect from our community.

This wouldnt be an inclusive list, but it would be a nice start-

The Economist magazine recently wrote about "Vancouverism" -- cities from around the world beating a path to Vancouver to find out why the city is always among the top three most livable in the world.

There are books and article -- "City making in paradise: nine decisions that saved Vancouver" -- "The Vancouver achievement: urban planning and design" Check it out.