Whittaker Associates: Giving Information Meaning">Whittaker

by Dean Whittaker

What if your region were known globally as the place where ideas are generated, innovation flourishes and new concepts are born? What if your region had the highest per-capita patents in the country? What would it mean socially, politically, and economically? What would it take to make this happen?

Innovation and Design are said to be one of the few sustainable competitive advantages in the global economy.  In the 2006 Federal Reserve Report, the authors found through their in-depth research that patents-per-capita was highly correlated with successful regional economies. The Upjohn Institute had a similar finding in their study to benchmark the Cleveland economy, in which both patents-per-capita and educational attainment made the difference.

So, if innovation is the key, why aren’t more places encouraging it? Why does Ohio have 4.8 patents per 10,000 inhabitants while the nation has 7.2 patents per 10,000?

An answer and possible solution can be found in a book by Daniel L. Pink, A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.  In his book, Pink describes the role the left and right side of the brain play in our thinking. He says that the left side provides the text while the right side gives us the context.  He talks about moving from the manufacturing economy to the knowledge economy and on to the concept economy, where ideas are the currency of trade.  Pink describes how our education system and placement tests favor left-brain, analytical, sequential thinking.  More importantly, he points out that left-brain thinking is now a commodity on the world stage, with engineering being done in India and research being done in China and wherever else there is a well educated workforce. It can already be bought.

Sometimes the workplace mimics our nation’s education system.  We systematically shut down the right-brain thinking in the way we educate, evaluate and reward people. What if we instead re-invented our education system and our workforce development training to re-engage the right side of our brains? By combining a strong left brain education with the creative right side, we would dramatically expand our ability to innovate, create, design and invent.

At Whittaker Associates we have begun to explore ways in which workforce development can be re-focused to teach people about re-engaging the creative side of their brains.  Richard Florida, in his book The Rise of the Creative Class, talks about retaining youth as the key to an innovative future.  I would contend that re-engaging the right side of the brain of our existing workforce would provide an even bigger economic boost to the local economy and differentiate us.

IThe retailer Target has begun a major emphasis on design as a method to compete with other big-box retailers. They are sponsoring the National Design Week and National Design Awards Oct. 15-21.  Take a look at www.cooperhewitt.org.  Walk through Target and notice the difference in the merchandise being carried with that at Wal-Mart.

I would strongly recommend that you pick up and read a copy of A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink.  It’s sure to stimulate some right-brain thinking for you.

by Patrick McConahy

Growing companies have so many relocation options available that economic development organizations must move quickly and correctly to capitalize on potential targets.  In the fast-paced, technologically dependent business world in which we live, there is little room for error.  But oddly enough, it’s the human touch, not technology, that can give you the edge on other organizations. If a company executive doesn’t like what he’s hearing from a qualification caller, it’s really not that hard for him to just hang up the phone. A certain level of personal connection has to be evoked for each individual call.  Our natural interest in knowing and helping people is why the qualification process is probably one of the most important and beneficial services that Whittaker Associates offers to our clients.

Over the course of my professional career, I’ve had the opportunity to work at several different offices, both large and small. In the large offices I found it very easy to get lost in the crowd, but at the smaller ones people paid much more attention to each employee and what was going on in their lives.  I certainly prefer the latter setting simply because there is that dynamic of a personal touch.  Whether you’re grabbing a coke from the fridge or finishing up a report for a co-worker, it’s really easy to accomplish tasks and buy into the firm’s goals when you know the people you work with truly care about you.

Our care for the individuals on our team at Whittaker Associates is what sets our qualification capabilities apart from our competitors. The respect and care we have for each other spills over into the work that we do for our clients.  All of the employees here at Whittaker Associates are people persons.  We genuinely enjoy the opportunity to help others.  This is why it’s so easy for our qualification callers to give the same amount of respect and care to each and every executive they qualify for you.  Every time we speak with someone we have to opportunity to help that person grow their business and achieve their goals.

I could have chosen to work at a variety of different places.  However, I made the decision to work at Whittaker Associates because of the people.  We understand through personal experience the best ways to serve our clients, and our closeness as a group holds us accountable to produce efficient and effective results.  So feel free to give us a call and we’ll help you understand all the ways we can employ technology—and the personal touch—to serve your company.