More Kotkin Tidbits

Here's a few take aways from two days with Joel Kotkin.

Facts can be so damning. 

This slide from Joel Kotkin, author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, was in his presentation to the Licking County Workforce Summit.  He said, "This equation is completely out of wack" in a call for "rethinking" the predominant job of education after high school.

He's right.  We need to be investing in skills training, not education for education's sake.

Superior Averageness

I also took away this phrase which Kotkin attributed to the Japanese and their manufacturing prowess of the 1970's and 1980's.  I'd say this phrase pretty accurately describes the Midwest work ethic.  Our averages are superior to most.

I think the new regional business attraction group, Columbus2020, could appeal to both urban and suburban interests using some Wendell Cox data Joel Kotkin shared that showed Columbus ranking above Seattle in attracting college grads.  Who says superior averageness doesn't beat hip and cool?

Agriculture and food production have the greatest chance of any industry in the U.S. based on enormous global demand.

There's so much more I took away from the two days with the uber-geographer.  More sharing later.

Want more now?  See the NewarkAdvocate.com article from Kotkin's Workforce Summit too.