MyWHaT

Monday morning rant

The headline is about all I want to say on this subject, for now–more later, however…

I’ll just admit that I’m frustrated with the lack of open-mindedness to change, lack of willingness to experiment and lack of ability by local luminaries to make a commitment to a decision and champion it. Most people who are influential in the city are tied to some sort of position and context that hinders their ability to stand up, recognize a great idea and run with it.

The current economy is based on innovation and is moving beyond basic function. Beautiful designs that are also functional are the key. They are the key to industry, business and they are key to designing place. If Northern Michigan sticks to the model of asking big questions and asking for leading edge solutions, only to settle for something from the Anywhere U.S.A Catalog, it will loose it’s ability to regenerate and remain vibrant.

TC and Northern Michigan in general are too often stifled by the politics, culture, economics…of it’s past. We can be presented with an innovative idea (for now it doesn’t matter what) and we immediately see the impossibility, despite being intrigued and borderline convinced. It’s unfortunate. We allow the small amount of doubt to dominate our decisions.

Doubt is good; it helps us question and evaluate. It need not run the show.

There is a whole world of ideas out there and we should no longer accept the Not Invented Here = Not Doable Here mentality. Guess what folks, Traverse City is not the only place on the map. It’s pretty nice here, but if we fail to move forward and adapt to a changing world we will no longer be able to be held up as a shining example of success for the state.

There are people here who share this frustration with me. Where are they?

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Monday’s Quote:

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

–Albert Einstein

Quote is via Chapter 3 of Tom Vanderbilt‘s Traffic: Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us).

This chapter, How our eyes and minds betray us on the road,  entertains the world of cognitive limitations ALL of us have when driving.

An overall theme of Traffic is that none of us are as good as driver’s as we think we are; we’re mostly lucky. And, it is made worse by kissing pretty girls (or talking to them on the cell phone) while driving.

Let’s be careful out there.

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