Innovation: When entrepreneurs get together in Chicago, a common topic of conversation is how the city fares in terms of new business. A lot of entrepreneurs look longingly to either coast and the greener fields (in many respects 🙂 ) that beckon. McKinsey talks about innovation (not venture financing, alas), but Chicago fares pretty well in the diversity of companies that have been granted patents. We are third in the world, behind only Silicon Valley and Toyko in one measure of developing a diversified business base. I have always felt that this was a hidden gem in the Chicago economy, compared to the boom and bust cycles of mono-industry cities like Detroit, Houston, Denver or Hartford.
Leadership: A friend pointed me to this article on entrepreneurial leadership in this economy. (Hat Tip: BF)
Healthcare: Should America have universal healthcare? According to the experts, 50 million of us are not covered by health insurance. We pay significantly more for healthcare on a per capita basis, have less access to advanced technologies and actually have worse outcomes than most other countries. Joe Conason, writes about the issue in Salon today.
Entrepreneurship: Paul Graham‘s new rallying cry is “Be Relentlessly Resourceful“.
Economy: Wonder why the prices of groceries haven’t been going down, as raw materials prices have? So have the big grocery chains.
Al,
With regard to your comments on innovation in Chicago, you make a lot of good points. Even today, I think too many of the great entrepreneurs we have in the Chicagoland area look to the coasts. I’m in the process of starting the “Chicago Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship”, which will be a non-profit, university affiliated effort to support and stimulate the development of the Chicagoland region as a growing leader in healthcare entrepreneurship by encouraging collaboration among academia, corporations, entrepreneurs, government, non-profits, and venture capitalists. So hopefully, things like that, as well as continued leadership from excellent entrepreneurs/consultants/teachers like yourself, will allow Chicago to claim its rightful place as a hotbed for entrepreneurial activity. JG