Does Place Matter?

By Dean Whittaker For those of us in the economic development profession, we like to think that place matters. And, I would argue that it does. According to David Houle, in his TEDx Pittsburgh and TEDx Sarasota talks, place shapes who we are. To a degree, it shapes...

On Being Disconnected

By Dean Whittaker In my haste to board Delta flight 458 at the Kansas City International Airport, I inadvertently left my iPhone on the chair next to me in the waiting area. Once on board, I realized my loss and went back to look for it, but it was gone. Suddenly, I...

Are You Solving the Right Problem?

By Dean Whittaker It has been a busy month of learning for me. I concluded my year-long course in “Innovation Methodology” at the NewNorth Center for Design in Business by submitting my thesis on the use of a future scenario process to inform and engage education,...

The Joy of Learning

By Dean Whittaker One of my greatest joys is learning. Perhaps, it is yours too. If you’ve been reading our newsletter for awhile, you know its intent is to share with you what I and my other teammates at Whittaker Associates have learned that month. Hopefully, our...

About Learning ANYTHING

By Dean Whittaker One of the book recommendations this month is The 4-Hour Chef: Learning Anything by Timothy Ferriss. In his book, the author shares the joy of learning and describes a process of deconstructing anything we wish to learn into its basic components by...