Creative Leadership : Buzz

The Twin Cities Thursday Happy Hours blog is soliciting nominations for the 25 Most Connected Twin Cities Business Professionals. Here's what founder Jeff Nolan has to say:

"I have been thinking a lot lately about the collaborative business environment we have here in Minneapolis/St. Paul and wanted to reach out to my network and beyond to find the 25 Most Connected Twin Cities Business Professionals."

Nolan asks readers to populate the comment section with the names of Twin Cities professionals who are constantly open to connecting, helping and developing relationships.

Read the TCTHH post and nominate here.

What do Lady Gaga, Jamie Oliver and Best Buy's Kal Patel have in common?

They're all on Fast Company's list of The 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2010.

Patel, president for Asia Best Buy, appears at No. 65 on the list.

"If Best Buy were a Rorschach test, Kal Patel would see a venture-capital firm rather than a big-box electronics store. Before being named to run the Minneapolis-based retailer's Asia operations, Patel spent seven years getting the company to behave like a Silicon Valley incubator."

As a result, the company is more experimental today. The retailer lets employees try out ideas on a small scale before they require a significant investment. Examples include electric vehicle sales and its use of Twitter for customer service.

Read the entire list here.