In 2016, my SaveYour.Town cofounder Deb Brown and I were on a working retreat when the Idea Friendly Method was still fairly new. As we worked through the method, she asked, “Why is this happening now?” Which is a great question. I gave her a long answer at the time, but I’ve only shared part…
Why do small towns struggle to get things done? Why is that water line still not fixed? What’s holding up the downtown streetscape project? Why didn’t that planned thing ever happen? Questions like these often get lumped under the label of “rural capacity” or lack of capacity. Plenty of outside organizations have been talking a…
What if funders and all of us really stopped waiting for perfect information and started acting now? In the past few weeks, I’ve seen the Masonic Charity Foundation of Oklahoma take immediate action twice and change what people thought was possible. Go ahead with your study, but act now First, at the Oklahoma State University…
Too often, placemaking sounds expensive. That’s just because people talk about expensive consultants, fancy masterplans and big projects like they do in big cities. In tiny towns, placemaking doesn’t have to cost much at all. My local economic developer Jeremy Zeller says placemaking simply means making the kind of place you want to live. And…
I finally made a speaker reel. After more than a decade of keynotes and workshops all over, I worked with Logan Young from SPKRstudio.com to put together footage that would show what I bring to you on stage. Logan started filling the spaces between speaking clips with beautiful, professional stock footage. These were gorgeous shots…
At a recent conference, a community leader approached me with a familiar frustration. His town has four downtown buildings with active businesses. “Only four,” he said with disappointment. “At least you have four,” I said. That’s actually something to build on. He went on, “We have four other buildings downtown sitting empty. The owners won’t…
Meet them where they are At the workshop after my recent keynote at the Arkansas Municipal League, a guy shared his frustration. He wanted to get people from his town of about 400 people together to hear their ideas. What would they like to see the city become? What kind of improvements could they work…
I just sat down to eat my sandwich at The Old Creamery Cooperative in Cummington, Massachusetts, when I spotted it: a few shelves right across from the tables, offering pottery, local books, handmade jewelry, and art prints for sale. A simple sign read “the little gallery.” I’m always looking for these tiny businesses inside another…
Today, you get a sneak preview of my upcoming book on the Idea Friendly Method. I’ve heard a lot from people all over struggling to create collaborations, and this story provides some practical insights in making collaboration last. In the late 1990s, Curtis Wynn stepped into the role of CEO at Roanoke Electric Cooperative in…
I was reading Jon Swanson’s 300 Words a Day newsletter, and he shared this really old truth about building community from a Bible story: “Jesus was traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem. And it went right along the border of two bad parts of town. Or two great parts of town. I mean, everyone has part…
When Rebecca Undem interviewed me, she shared a story that helps explain why some people just don’t seem to get excited by your idea. Rebecca bought and rehabbed an old building in Oakes, North Dakota, (population 1800) to support and develop more local businesses with coworking, an event venue, conference space, training space and a…
Kathryn Witherington recently confessed that she’s been using Idea Friendly for 6 years! Truly cannot say enough about the Idea Friendly method for this – I’ve used it in the last 6 years to create two downtown public spaces, including millions in investment from the city, and am now using it to grow affordable housing…
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