Enterprise Development Blog

Dave Oetken: Make Your Business Resolutions Stick

1/20/2011 08:26:59 AM  -  0 Comments
 

 Dave Oetken, Managing Director of Business Advising for GLI’s ENTERPRISECORP, offers the following advice on making your business’s New Year’s resolutions stick:

How are your New Year’s resolutions working out?

Now that we’re halfway through January, are you on track with your New Year’s business resolutions?  Most Decembers, business leaders reflect on the prior year’s performance and vow to improve: to do things differently, or never do that again.

And then what happens?

Fifty-three percent do not maintain their New Year’s resolutions because their planned changes are either too expensive or take up too many resources (Health & Safety Executive – HSE – 2006). Seventy-five percent of change initiatives fail because the organization is unsuccessful in managing the human reaction to change. (John P. Kotter, Leading Change, 1996)

Obviously, the odds are not always in our favor. So, faced with challenges from every corner, what can business leaders do differently this year in order to make their New Year’s resolutions stick?

The World’s Globally-Aging Population

12/16/2010 11:21:38 AM  -  0 Comments
 

Insights from GLI's Executive Vice President Eileen Pickett on economic development in Greater Louisville:
 
Over the past 18 months or so, GLI has been intensely focused on the opportunity for Louisville to become the center of commerce, innovation and knowledge within the sector of health enterprises known as Aging Care.  The economic growth opportunity would appear to be extraordinary: Louisville already boasts more HQ of Aging Care companies than anywhere else in the country. The Aging Care sector is on a strong growth trajectory as populations age and need grows. And, there is a real need for innovation in this industry that has seen virtually none over decades.
 
In parallel to the work and thinking around Aging Care, we have been developing strategies to leverage the continued globalization of the economy.  What can we be doing to assist Louisville businesses in making global connections?  How can Louisville attract more foreign direct investment?  What advantages does Louisville have for foreign companies entering the US market?  The answers to these questions and others present real opportunity and are central to GLI’s strategic plan.
 
This article from the New York Times magazine looks at these two phenomena – the aging of the world population and the globalization of the world economy – that we have been considering separately and examines their intersection and integrated relationship. 

Today's Big News: Ford CEO to Keynote GLI Annual Meeting

11/22/2010 02:49:13 PM  -  0 Comments
 

 GLI announced the speaker for its 2011 Annual Meeting today… and it’s an impressive one.
 
Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, will be traveling to Louisville to speak at the event, which takes place Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Mulally will discuss the Ford story and how its team returned the company to profitability during the recent economic crisis. Remember: Ford was the only major American car manufacturer to avoid government-sponsored bankruptcy.
 
This is exciting news, not only because the Louisville business community gets to hear from one of the most respected CEOs in the nation, but because Ford has such a huge impact on the regional economy.

New York’s Loss is Louisville’s Gain?

11/12/2010 12:11:48 PM  -  0 Comments
 

Interesting article on Forbes.com this month.  We know population trends indicate that individuals are migrating out of mega-cities into communities with higher qualities of life (something we pride ourselves on here in Louisville).  As Forbes notes:

"In the course of the next 40 years, the biggest gainers won't be behemoths like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, but less populous, easier-to-manage cities that are both affordable and economically vibrant… Over the past decade, the biggest migration of Americans has been to cities with between 100,000 and 1 million residents.”

Louisville is poised to greater benefit from this trend – in fact, we already are.

Training Opportunity for Regional Entrepreneurs

11/8/2010 10:26:41 AM  -  2 Comments
 

Louisville’s entrepreneurial community is thriving, thanks in part to the availability of guidance for new start-up companies and their entrepreneurs. One such opportunity is taking place this month, compliments of Nucleus: Kentucky’s Life Sciences and Innovation Center. From Business First:

“[Nucleus] will host a training session next week for leaders to help local businesses. The program, FastTrac TechVenture, is a partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. It is designed for entrepreneurs of innovation-based startups, particularly those in life sciences, engineering and applied sciences. It aims to evaluate and improve business concepts, express business concepts through various plans and build a network of entrepreneurial relationships....”