Big Grain of Salt: Does Education Make You “Smarter?”

Richard Florida, author of the must-read books The Creative Class and Who’s Your City? has a new post titled The Density of Smart People. It’s based on his review of analysis done by Rob Pitingolo that looked at something called “educational attainment density.

Richard begins his post with a simple statement: “Clusters of smart people of the highly educated sort that economists refer to as “human capital” are the key engine of economic growth and development.Read the rest

[Building Great Companies] 5 Talent / Location Factors Founders Should Consider

There are a lot of ways to build a company – some by  accident, some products of history, and some by poorly conceived thinking (see Charlotte, North Carolina – who would think Charlotte would become a world banking headquarters?). An obvious goal is to base your business where it’s got good access to customers, talent, transportation or perhaps capital: do none well and you suck up time in travel, recruiting, and moving people that could be otherwise spent toward serving customers and making great products.Read the rest