Creative Leadership : Buzz

The Atlantic Cities ran a story in January from Richard Florida that asks, “Does Human Capital Tend to Cluster in Center Cities or the Suburbs?”

Human capital, another way to describe educated people, represents “a key factor in the growth of cities and metro regions,” the story reads.

Florida studied the way that human capital spreads out in cities and suburbs throughout the country and its impact on local economies. He used 2000 U.S. Census data to get the percentages of college grads for those areas.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are among the top 10 large metros with the most college grads in the center city, it reads. About 35 percent of the area’s residents hold bachelor’s degrees, the study found.   

“Knowledge-based high tech metros top the list,” the story states.

Influential industry magazine Advertising Age recently released its annual "40 Under 40" list of top executives that haven't reached their 40th birthdays yet, and two Minnesota execs made the list.
 
Dustee Tucker Jenkins, vice president of public relations for Target Corporation, and Michele Vig, senior director of retail marketing for Caribou Coffee, were both named as young marketing leaders who have made a mark in the client, agency, and media realms.
 
Jenkins joined Target in 2010, after serving in government and consulting positions. AdAge notes that the 34-year-old has developed a political-campaign-style field team that serves local Target communities.
 
Caribou's Vig, age 39, joined the company in 2007, and has overseen the introduction of new products such as revamped breakfast sandwiches. Her vision has been invaluable, considering that the coffee chain will be expanding its footprint in the near future. 

A blog post from Bon Appetit, the culinary magazine, describes the “Return of the Tater Tot.”

“Most people forgot the Tater Tot once they graduated from the lunchroom,” writes Foodist blogger Andrew Knowlton.

But Knowlton has long kept a bag of Ore-Ida Tots on hand for late-night snacks or treats for his daughters. “They’re great baked, even better fried,” he says, adding, “And while they'll always be second to french fries, chefs are starting to show them some respect on menus.”

Some restaurants serve them traditional style, while others take them up a notch with "Totchos," Tot casseroles, he says.

Haute Dish in Minneapolis also has an “upscale version served with short ribs,” he adds.  

A handful of local cultural institutions are among 105 finalists from across the country for creative placemaking grants from ArtPlace America.

The list includes Bedlam Theatre, Minnesota Public Radio and the Blue Ox in St. Paul, along with the Hennepin Theatre Trust in Minneapolis.

“The selected applicants represent the best of the 1,225 letters of inquiry from across the country,” ArtPlace’s website reads. “Finalists were chosen for their potential to transform communities through placing art and culture at the heart of portfolios of integrated strategies that drive vibrancy and diversity.”  

Grant recipients will be announced in May, according to the website.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and the Mayo Clinic both nabbed spots on Fortune magazine's recent, annual list of "100 Best Companies to Work For."
 
Although both made the list last year, the Mayo Clinic showed a significant jump over its previous ranking. It's in 41st place in the current list, compared to 71st place in 2012. Allianz went the other direction, but only slightly, coming in at 59th this year, down from 51st last year.
 
Fortune noted that Mayo stands out for its on-site massages, as well as "stress-free zones" that let employees take a break from hectic workday schedules.
 
The list is compiled based on employee surveys, which cover job satisfaction areas such as hiring, pay rates, and benefit programs. This year, employees at 259 companies participated, according to Fortune.
 
Topping the list for the fourth time is Google, which is rich with perks like wellness centers, a seven-acre sports complex, and a roller hockey rink.

Open Table, the restaurant reservation website, recently put together a list of its top 100 picks for dining out across the country.

The Capital Grille in downtown Minneapolis and Restaurant Alma in the city’s Marcy-Holmes neighborhood both made the list, beating out thousands of other restaurants.

“Out of more than 5 million restaurant reviews submitted by OpenTable diners for more than 15,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, these outstanding restaurants are the top 100 'Best Overall' restaurants in the nation for 2012,” an Open Table posting reads.

A recent feature in The New York Times centers on the Minnesota Opera’s premiere of “Doubt,” which opens January 26 and runs through Feb. 3. 

According to the article, playwright John Patrick Shanley was initially skeptical of the idea of rewriting the show, which had been a play and an award-winning movie, into an opera libretto.  

But it turned out to be a rewarding experience, Shanley says. “There’s a lot of feelings that could not be expressed in the play because of its austerity,” he says, adding, “But opera, even when it is austere, is as rich as chocolate cake. So that allowed me to go back and express a lot of things that I could not before and still tell the story"--a story which centers on the nature of the relationship between a Catholic proest and a young African-American boy.

Preparing for production, the Minnesota Opera hosted a number of workshops for composer Douglas J. Cuomo, Shanley, and stage director Kevin Newbury, the story states.

Newbury says of the resulting show, “It isn’t just about doubt, it’s doubt brought to life onstage. And it’s a particularly American play with all the questions about class and race and religion rolled up into one.”

Several Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods made ArtPlace America’s list for 2013 of the country’s top art destinations.

Every year, ArtPlace, a consortium of national arts groups, puts together a report that pinpoints the top “art places” in 33 of the country’s largest metro areas.  

Art places are those that have a “backbone of creative culture,” the ArtPlace website reads. Small local businesses and shops define these areas, which are often walkable. These are “neighborhoods where the arts are central to creating the kinds of places where people want to be.”

ArtPlace uses indicators such as the percentage of independent and arts-related businesses and organizations, walkability, and the number of people in creative professions.

In Minneapolis, Downtown West and Loring Park are on the list, while across the Mississippi River the Lowertown neighborhood is included.

Business Insider, a site covering finance, strategy, tech, and other topics, recognized CoCo as one of 17 "coolest co-working spaces in America."
 
The site focused on CoCo's Minneapolis space, housed on the historic trading floor of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. The space's 20,000 square feet, unique meeting rooms, and game rooms all garnered praise, as well as CoCo's in-room beverage service and catering options.
 
Other co-working spaces that got a nod for coolness include Citizen Space in California, CoLab in Nashville and Orlando, The Coop in Chicago, and Jellyfish Cartel in Los Angeles.

Minneapolis is one of the top five cities for advancing in one’s career in 2013, according to Monster.com.

For those moving into a new city, a post from the website states, “it might be smart to factor wage and employment potential into your city choice.”

Monster looked at the online salary database to pull that kind of information for cities across the country.

It found that Minneapolis, rated fourth, is seeing 3.2 percent wage growth. The city “enjoys an economy that thrives on manufacturing, including electronics, medical equipment, and machinery,” while popular jobs are actuary, senior business manager, project manager, and marketing and category manager, according to Monster.

Houston topped the list, with 3.9 percent in wage growth.



 

Minneapolis is included in a list from BillMoyers.com of a dozen cities that are “leading the way in sustainability.”

For example, the city has put a lot of effort into becoming more bike-friendly: “With over 160 miles of bikeways, 85 miles of which don’t run alongside a road, Minneapolis is among America’s greener large cities,” it reads.

But that’s not the only area where Minneapolis is getting attention for its green initiatives.

It has also worked to promote the importance of tap water as opposed to bottled water. Also, Mayor R.T. Rybak has “recently become a major advocate for his city’s tap water, arguing that it is less expensive and better for the environment than bottled water,” the article states.

Pizzeria Lola in Minneapolis recently got props from Food and Wine magazine as one of the best pizza joints in the country.

On its website, Food and Wine quotes TV star and chef Andrew Zimmern, who says,

“Yes, it’s true, Minnesota has the best pizza in America,” adding, “Better than New York City and Chicago put together.”

Although the piece acknowledges that Zimmern, a Minnesotan, could be biased, “his favorite order makes a case for thinking outside those major pizzaiola hubs: The Sunnyside is topped with guanciale and leeks that have been caramelized in the cured pork fat and finished with a hint of cream. A sprinkle of Pecorino Romano cheese and two fresh sunny-side up eggs complete the recipe,” it reads.

According to the Volunteering and Civic Life in America report, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul have the highest rate of volunteerism.
 
The report compared volunteer rates in the country's 51 largest metro areas, and found that 37 percent of Twin Cities residents volunteered in 2011.
 
As a state, Minnesota ranked fourth in the report, with 38 percent of residents volunteering. The top three states were Utah, Idaho, and Iowa.
 
In determining volunteer stats, researchers looked at the hours of contributed service, but noted that those numbers only included volunteering done through organizations. When residents were asked about doing favors for their neighbors, the rate shot up to nearly 73 percent in the Twin Cities.

Overall, the report noted that in 2011, the number of volunteers across the nation reached its highest level in five years, as 64.3 million Americans volunteered.

A recent story from the Minnesota Daily highlights a Minneapolis-specific annual variety show called, “I AM MPLS,” including its future plans.

Sarah Edwards, a marketing director at the Pixel Farm creative agency, initiated the show several years ago as way to “bring together all of the different types of talent the Twin Cities offers, from rockabilly to the sophistication of the MIA,” it reads.

“It’s hard to explain what people should expect,” Edwards is quoted saying, adding, “It’s not a fashion show, and it’s not a comedy show and it’s not a music show; it’s all of those things together telling a story.”

She hopes this collaboration will happen more frequently and become “more of a hub for innovators and artistic enthusiasts to have easier access to one another,” it reads.

Already, the ”revolution-esque intent of the collaboration has the foundation to become more than just a Minneapolis project, insofar as creatives from Denver will be flying in for the production.”

A video from the Vital BMX website features bicyclists in Minneapolis.

“Insiders Eric Holley and Nick Anderson invite outsider Seamus McKeon to Minneapolis, Minnesota to hang out and ride bikes for a couple of days,” a post that accompanies the video reads.

The video features several local riders, who take the viewer on a sort of virtual city tour, via bicycle.

Bicyclists ride through downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus, and the historic Stone Arch Bridge area.