Last week my wife Susan and I got to host the Founders’ Reception for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance at our home. This was the first official gathering of the first organized group of high-tech and manufacturing leaders in the state, and we had 120 people in attendance! It was a great night, filled with […]
You’ve heard me mention CodeMontana before. It’s a free statewide program where Montana high-school students can access an engaging, self-paced online curriculum that teaches computer programming. When the program was founded in September of last year, we had a goal of reaching 1,000 students within the first year. Seven months into it we had surpassed that […]
Last week I spent two days in Eureka and Libby, Montana visiting with local officials, business owners and students. Unemployment in Lincoln County is high. The scenery is spectacular, but they need better jobs. One fascinating discovery was that we found a number of people telecommuting to high-wage jobs in big cities from their homes […]
I’ve studied innovation quite a bit over the last several years. In my work at RightNow, as well as my current mentoring with entrepreneurs, I often see confusion between “ideas” and “innovations.” Conversations frequently conclude with something like, “… and that is my idea, what do you think?” Most of the time I respond, “Interesting idea, […]
People want to believe better is possible. Yet in most of the communities I visit around the state, many of the young people had to move away to find gainful employment. In Helena, 90% of the hands went up when I asked if anyone has a child living outside the state (this was an audience […]
I’m happy to announce that the Montana High-Tech Business Alliance has officially launched. The Alliance is a membership organization focused on creating more high-tech jobs in Montana. It has a founding group of about 20 firms, all leading employers in our state, and its mission is to accelerate the growth, global competitiveness and visibility of […]
This September, Carroll College will launch a new entrepreneurial program with the goal of exposing its students to real-world, practical instruction in creating and growing new business ventures. I will be collaborating with them on this project and serving as their “Entrepreneur-in-Residence.” This is an exciting way for us to help our students and to […]
Over the last six weeks I’ve been traveling around Montana delivering the keynote speech for the 39th Annual UM Economic Summit, and in the process I have met some great folks. My message centered on how to create better jobs in every community and lift Montana out of 49th position in national wages. When my […]
CodeMontana.org, the free program to encourage Montana high school students to study computer science, is starting to have an effect. Since the program’s inception in September 2013, more than 1,100 Montana high school students have completed more than 40,000 computer science exercises. Schools are beginning to bring computer science into the classroom and kids are […]
Four of the biggest surprises while starting RightNow were the advantages of a rural community: Productivity Dividend – In most large cities, people commute 1 – 2 hours each way to work. That is 2 to 4 hours each day of unproductive time. In a small town no one is more than 10 minutes from […]