Leader Garden-Helping firms Cultivate and Grow their Leaders

Three months after making grants available to businesses looking to invest in solar power, the Tennessee Solar Institute has awarded more than $9 million to 108 applicants across the state.

‘We were overwhelmed with the response all across the state,’ said Stacey Patterson, a director of research partnerships at the University of Tennessee, where the solar institute is based. ‘We didn’t know what the response would be.’

via Solar proposals net $9M statewide » Knoxville News Sentinel.

When Jay Gogue became president of Auburn University in 2007, he sought feedback, and one particular suggestion kept coming back to him.

“We created workshops and groups with small numbers of people all over the state of Alabama to say if you were running Auburn University, what are some of the things we ought to do differently or better,” Gogue said Wednesday.

“A grouping of those (comments) fell around research. And one of the very specific comments that came out in different locations was that there were tremendous opportunities for Auburn to figure out a way to link, partner and work closer with Huntsville.”

via With new Huntsville research center, Auburn University eager to join high-tech research | al.com.

The Obama administration claims that $100 billion invested in innovative technologies under the economic stimulus law is “transforming the American economy” by putting the nation on track for technological breakthroughs in health care, energy and transportation.But an examination of details in the 50-page government report reveals something a bit different: a collection of rosy projections that ignore many of the challenges, pitfalls and economic realities in all those areas. Heres a look at how the administrations assertions compare to the facts:

via Fact check: White Houses tech projects come up short | tennessean.com | The Tennessean.

When you read the rest of the article you will see many examples that support the continued claim that the best thing Government can do is get out of the way of business and innovation and stop trying to take the lead in areas it has little understanding of.

While the current administration borrowed liberally from our future, they placed their bets in areas where there was little opportunity for return, or their investment was way too small to make a difference.

Not a surprise when you consider that most of the top “thinkers” in this group have never balanced a checkbook or made a payroll.

Let’s put some common sense thinkers back in power in Washington and in each state house this fall.

THE call came at 9:30 at night from the police detective, asking me about one of my carpenters. The detective was doing a follow-up investigation on a domestic disturbance and wanted to ask a few questions. Fine, no problem, I said — thinking of the big job we were in the middle of and how much I was depending on that carpenter.

via Preoccupations – The Healing Power of Construction Work – NYTimes.com.

I found this  to be a truly fascinating article about many who work in the areas of self-employment that keep them from the prying eyes of corporate America.

The screening and background checking that most firms use now provide a glass-ceiling that many cannot penetrate if they have had any kind of a run in with the law.

I find it interesting to consider what other professions provide the same type of therapy as carpentry and the building trades.

The National Science Foundation awarded University of Alabama in Huntsville a $1,176,470 grant to develop inter-campus and intra-campus cyber connectivity at the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology (HudsonAlpha), Alabama A & M University (AAMU) and Alabama State University (ASU) campuses.

Dr. Sara J. Graves (Professor, Director ITSC Ph.D., University of Alabama in Huntsville), Dr. Christopher Lawson (Center Director), University of Alabama at Birmingham), and Dr. Karen Boykin (Outreach Coordinator EPSCoR) are responsible for acquiring and administrating the grant.

via University of Alabama in Huntsville gets million dollar nanotech grant from NSF – Birmingham science news | Examiner.com.

Congrats to UAH for this achievement!

Huntsville is fast becoming a regional, if not national, technology hub in the eyes of DOD and now the Life Science community.

UAH is helping to lead the way!

With their numbers on the wane and their political strength in question, Tennessee labor unions are trying to rack up a few wins on the biggest building project they’ve had a crack at in many years.

Nashville’s convention center project came along just in time for organized labor.

Even as they have lost power with the decline in manufacturing, they have found much-needed success in the government sector through influence in government contracts and unionized employee groups, such as teachers and city and state workers.

via Watchdog Report: Unions shrink but stay active | tennessean.com | The Tennessean.

While there is no doubt that a period of our history gave birth to the union movement, the steady decline of the organized workforce does and will continue.

The Union forces in Tennessee and in most parts of the country are fortunate that they still have many advocates in the print industry.  Alas, that industry is also heading into the sunset, and I suspect they too will become an afterthought in the minds of most leaders by the time we reach 2020.

Right to work laws have had a positive influence on allowing owners and contractors to pick the most efficient and effective contractors for jobs such as the convention center.  Money, especially like that given by many of the groups listed in this article sways that choice in many projects.

After years of shedding jobs, Tennessee’s manufacturers are showing signs of life.The number of people employed in manufacturing increased in the second quarter, ending several consecutive quarters of declines, according to the Middle Tennessee State University’s Business and Economic Research Center. And state labor officials reported that manufacturing employment in July increased year over year, after three straight years of job losses.Manufacturing activity is a key indicator of an economy’s health. If consumers and businesses are indeed ready to spend, the widgets they desire start at a manufacturer.

via Manufacturing jobs slowly returning in Middle Tennessee – Nashville Business Journal.

While I like the tone of this article, we still need to keep our focus on jobs that require higher skill sets and jobs that have higher income levels.

We have a massive effort here to raise the level of our workforce to the level of our future economy.  This will not be a 1, 5, or 10 year effort.  It will take several generations and will require fundamental shifts in how we educate, train and spend resources in the economic development area.

It will not be an easy task, but doing the same things over again are not the answer.

Metro’s new bike-share program will begin this Friday morning at Shelby Park, when Mayor Karl Dean leads a group of cyclists from Shelby Park to downtown.

Under the bike share plan, originally scheduled to start in the spring but postponed because of the flood, anyone will be able to borrow one of 30 bikes at two monitored locations — Music City Star’s riverfront station and Shelby Bottoms.

Mayor Dean’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee recommended the plan.

via City’s bike-sharing program to begin Friday morning | Nashville City Paper: Nashville’s Online Source for Daily News.

I strongly applaud this program and saw one work well while in Montreal earlier this summer.

I do have a few recommendations:

1.  More locations-Vanderbilt area, Gulch, East Nashville

2.  Dedicated bicycle lanes

3.  Driver education

As a long-time rider I have seen way too many auto drivers ignore the rights of bicycle riders.  This program has unlimited potential, but we need to get it started on the right foot, or should I say wheel.

Thanks Mayor Dean!

It was a landmark day Wednesday for LinkedIn.

The social-networking service for professionals announced the first acquisition in its seven-year history, and said it now has more than 75 million members. (LinkedIn hit 65 million members in April and 60 million in February.)

via LinkedIn makes first acquisition, tops 75 million members – USATODAY.com.

Not surprised at all about the growth of LinkedIn.

It has become the preferred business-focused network and more and more companies, job-seekers and recruiters use it on a regular basis.

A state program that’s intended to support the growth of small Tennessee businesses has gotten a fresh injection of more than $60 million, the state Department of Economic and Community Development announced today.The TNInvestco program, which was created by the state Legislature in 2009 and expanded this year, is designed to help offset a drop in venture capital funding for promising startups and to make funds available to businesses that commit to bring jobs to Tennessee.

via TNInvestco raises $60.5M selling $80M in state tax credits – Nashville Business Journal.

This is good news for business creation and job growth within our state.

Stay tuned for more details.