By Dean Whittaker For the past two months, I have been part of a collaborative effort of a network of economic development professionals who’ve come together to create, distribute, collect, and analyze a survey to determine how businesses are responding to...
By Dean Whittaker My intention of the Whittaker Report is to share what each member of our team has learned of late. Sometimes it is work related but most of the time it is personal. My learning this month has included going through stages of grief and loss as...
By Dean Whittaker In March of 2009, I met and hired a Nepalese Hope College intern by the name of Vidhan Rana. Vidhan came to me as an intern with a desire to learn about economic development so that when he returned to Nepal, he could help build schools in the rural...
By Dean WhittakerSo, what have I learned this month? In seeing the movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” I learned what a unique, compassionate and kind person Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers) was, perhaps best exemplified in how he spoke to children about...
By Dean Whittaker My nature is to wonder. I wonder about lots of things but mostly about the future. I study social, technological, economic, environmental and political trends. One thing I have been puzzled by is why economic development organizations continue...