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How I’ve Been Spending My Summer “Vacation” (so far)
How I’ve Been Spending My Summer “Vacation” (so far) By Michael Gordon Back in the saddle, writing this blog after more than a month away. (NOTE to self: see if blogging saddles are the next great investment.) What’s been going on? 1. Drafted a new book on creating Inclusivity in the United States. The […] Read More
Awethu: Imported to Detroit?
By Michael Gordon As anyone reading this space knows (anyone? anyone? I can read your comments if you click the “(No) Comments” link above, you know), I’ve been thinking a lot about Detroit. And I think it’s fair to say that, once foreign cars began to arrive in the United States, and then gain wide […] Read More
Detroit, Bar BQ, and Ponyride
By Michael Gordon 2 Comments Phillip Cooley opened a restaurant in Detroit, Slows Bar BQ. Slows anchors a block in Detroit’s Corktown, a row of shops which is changing from seedy to hip. Cooley opened Slows with some backing from his parents, his own carpentry skills, and the sweat equity of his partners–who were also his chef and […] Read More
A World of Empathy
By Michael Gordon 1 Comment I spent last week at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, a gathering of social entrepreneurs bent on changing the world. Ask them what’s on their mind, you will often hear “scale.” After all, isn’t helping more people better than helping fewer? (And to get investment funding or donations, you […] Read More
Detroit, Ghana, and Fashion
Unusual post today: short thoughts and some shout outs. Jake Cohen generously gave me an hour of his time yesterday answering questions about Detroit Venture Partners (DVP), the Gilbert family of companies, and rebuilding Detroit through entrepreneurship. At the end of our conversation, he mentioned some other people to talk to. One was Jerry Paffendorf, […] Read More
Metaphors for Reviving Detroit
I was in Detroit yesterday learning more about incubators. I came away thinking about metaphors. My morning began in TechTown, where Faris Alami gave my research associate, Neesha Modi, and me a heady introduction to all that is taking place. TechTown is at once a research and technology park, a business incubator, and a collection […] Read More
Make Education Bigger
The four ideas I stress in teaching social entrepreneurship are these: Big Picture Design (which, itself, encompasses “designing everything,” and “stealing shamelessly” the ideas of others); Making It Appropriate; Making It Stick; and Making It Bigger. Most people have a handle on the last item — Making It Bigger — equating this with the important […] Read More
Detroit 2.0 or 2 Detroits?
Are we creating Detroit 2.0, or are we creating 2 Detroits? There is a renewed sense of energy and optimism in Detroit. I am seeing this as I explore Detroit’s business incubators (writ large), and there is much to applaud. Detroit Venture Partners is creating attractive workspaces for businesses to rub elbows, learn from, […] Read More
Rural Schools Need Help. Here’s How.
Matt Salefski was a student in my graduate level class, Solving Societal Problems through Enterprise and Innovation. He wrote a term paper, which I have modified slightly, that talks about the “hidden” problem of serving the needs of poor, rural students and presents ideas for addressing this problem in a cost effective manner. Think of […] Read More
Can You Change the Climate (for the Better)?
Can You Change the Climate (for the Better)? By Michael Gordon The Erb Institute at the University of Michigan along with the Union of Concerned Scientists held a workshop last weekend titled, “Increasing Public Understanding of Climate Risks and Choices: What We Can Learn from Social Science Research and Practice.” A video from the public […] Read More
