The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from yours truly, Jake Hodesh, chief goat herder for The Creative Coast.   Read on to see what I’ve been reading on…… 

I recently finished Walter Isaacson’s book on Steve Jobs.  For those of you who have slept through the last three-and-a-half decades, Steve Jobs co-founded one of the world’s most impressive corporations, Apple.

Apple is the amazing company that birthed the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone, iTunes and a host of other devices, programs, and accessories that have become the heartbeat of hip.

Walter Isaacson, no slouch himself, is a biographer, and the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. He has explored the lives and written about several prominent individuals, including Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein.

Jobs became Isaacson’s most recent foil, and their relationship spawned a nearly 600-page tome that held my attention on countless flights and poolside afternoons during my winter holiday.

Isaacson conducted more than 40 interviews with Jobs over the course of two years. He was given unparalleled access into Steve Jobs’ world, interviewing more than 100 of Jobs’ friends, family members, cohorts, coworkers, enemies, and business partners.

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Jamie Wolf, author, consultant for the entrepreneurial-minded, NC State grad and Solutions Director for the Savannah Ocean Exchange.   Read on for Jamie’s thoughts on re-starting, re-booting and re-invigorating your world…

Did you know that 400 million new jobs are needed by 2020 to keep pace with the working age population? Did you know that youth unemployment is 3 times higher than adult unemployment? I bet you heard the world population is now 7 billion and counting. That sounds like competition for jobs and resources to me. So what can you do to control your own destiny?

My solution is to read and learn. (I personally keep the economy going by buying books, not shoes!) If you hate your job and are ready to quit, have been laid off and can’t find work, recently graduated and are still underemployed, or if you are transitioning to civilian life, then you are facing starting over.

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s guest blogger is Brynn Grant, Vice President of Competitive Positioning at Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA). A conversation with Brynn always leaves one thinking bigger and further outside the sandbox….

This summer, after a six month process, the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA)  completed a Competitive Positioning Analysis and Target Industry Study for Savannah. A key part of SEDA’s five-year strategic plan adopted by the Board of Directors in March, this study and the subsequent recommendations made by our consultants at SRI International will direct our proactive efforts to create, grow and attract jobs here for many years to come. The results were exciting, especially for those of us who have worked hard to achieve consensus on the best strategies for our job creation efforts.

The two existing target industries named were no surprise though one proposed a more expanded approach. They are Advanced Manufacturing to include aviation and aerospace, materials and resins, industrial machinery and food processing as well as Transportation and Logistics, only now including an emphasis on the higher value side of logistics and the related support activities, perhaps linking regional higher education assets in a more robust way.

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Radford (Rad) Harrell, CEO and founder of TalentSoup, LLC, a Savannah-based firm providing online talent resourcing and management for advertising imagery production.   Read on for Rad’s take on the power of, and the method for, positive reinforcement…

Starting anything new, be it a tech company, a restaurant, or a mom starting a home-based craft business, is extraordinarily difficult. Statistically, it’s almost a guaranteed recipe for failure. But I believe new businesses are going to be the cornerstone of any solution to the economic mess we are in. And remember, a “business” is simply a legal framework owned and run by people. Businesses are people.

Traditionally, we Americans are an optimistic bunch. And perhaps we can all agree starting new businesses is important but our current economic crisis demands more than collective head-nodding. Agreement is simply not enough. Our collective “agreeing” is about as valuable as an “idea”…it’s worthless without action.

So what can we all do to encourage the entrepreneurs in our midst? How can we support the “starters” of things in and around our Creative Coast?