The “Best of the Blogs” – Really?

So, I knew, when I saw this title, that I had an “industry focus” (commercial real estate) newspaper section in my hands and I was thus not expecting blogs about teacups, South African safaris, kale farming, Norwegian fjords or peanut butter sandwiches.

But, come on now – this is what the top commercial real estate professionals in Atlanta blog about?

First of all, there is only one woman among the top 10. And her post is a promo for Publix supermarkets. No problem with Publix – I shop there all the time – but couldn’t it have been more topical (curbside shopping) and less commercial?

The bottom of the “top ten” – that very last number ten – had had the most page views (2,084, after its April 4, 2011 posting) and was the only one that interested me: “How Atlanta looks to the world”. But I immediately disagreed with a major premise: “Visionary leadership that has planned and prepared the area for growth” . . . Really? Any day now, when I look in the dictionary for a definition of “sprawl”, I expect to see “Atlanta” and little else.

Seriously, when I was more interested and involved in “international” than I am today, my global interlocutors who were weighing Atlanta as a site for their U.S. headquarters and ended up on the negative side uniformly cited two problems they saw: traffic and education. Traffic (read: “sprawl”), in the past two decades, has not improved. And education? Well, we now have that debacle in black and white also.

Anyone remember Atlanta’s plans for the Secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)? Traffic and education killed that dream.

Getting back to blogs – if they don’t inform, entertain and engage, who needs them? Industry focus or not.

Civility in the Workplace

I can't wait for May 26! That's when Peggy Parks will give a luncheon presentation about Civility in the Workplace.

This is not something she just thought about one day while driving around town, having a conversation with her husband, or scheduling a meeting with a client; it has been a life-long passion of hers. And society is finally catching on!

Last year, she received the "Civility Star" award from the Association of Image Consultants International, and just the other day, she accepted the City of Atlanta's proclamation that announced May as "Civility Awareness Month".

We've Got it!

It's an amazing phenomenon to me that many men don't seem to 'get it' that we are not helpless creatures, who need to be educated on how to live our lives or run our business. The most recent example, yesterday, is a man who wanted to meet with me and discuss a training session for Atlanta Women in Business members, on how to use the telephone or e-mail to seek business appointments, and how to conduct a meeting after an appointment had been secured.

He had no clue, apparently, that women do this sort of training also, and that some of them might even be members of Atlanta Women in Business. Or, that we already know how to do this sort of thing.

The frequency with which I receive requests from men for opportunities to address my network, so that we can be educated on wealth management, hiring practices, insurance policies, acquiring real estate, conduct sales meetings, etc., is staggering. No offense, but . . . we already know!

Atlanta Politics

Lisa Borders, outgoing City Council Chair, endorsed Kasim Reed in the recent run-off to elect a new mayor, over Mary Norwood; she campaigned for him and stated in an interview that she thought her efforts had helped him get to victory. Fine. No problem.

But . . ., Ms. Borders sits on the Board of Directors of The White House Project, an organization that "aims to advance women’s leadership in all communities and sectors—up to the U.S. presidency—by filling the leadership pipeline with a richly diverse, critical mass of women."

If women do not want to support other women for leadership roles, I guess that's their business.

But if you don't want to walk the walk, I think you should refrain from talking the talk. Off that board, Ms. Borders!

Smarter Cities – Smarter Planet

IBM tells us that in 1900, just over a hundred years ago, only 13% of the global population lived in cities; by 2050, 70% will. What are the ramifications of rapid urbanization and what solutions does technology offer?

Issues IBM addresses in its “Smarter Planet” initiative include transportation (Atlanta traffic being what it is in 2009, I’d sure hate to be on the downtown connector or I-285 in 2050!), healthcare, education (see “Education in Georgia”, below), energy, water (as a Certified Georgia Master Gardener this is a topic I have studied and that concerns me greatly), employment (with accountability and transparency) – and that is just a start!

Phil Guido, IBM Corporation’s General Manager, U.S. East, spoke last week of the world’s interconnectedness, economically, socially and technically, and identified a “new wave” with an infusion of intelligence – “Instrumented, Interconnected and Intelligent”. He gave his audience several examples of “smart” global solutions, e.g. traffic flow in Stockholm, and crime fighting in New York City.

Three metro counties’ heads of government also spoke at the event.

John Eaves of Fulton listed his priorities as crime, healthcare and transportation, highlighting the success of transforming Grady Hospital into an independent nonprofit institution and the need for MARTA to expand. Burrell Ellis of DeKalb read a nice speech without specifics (“2010 will present challenges; urbanization impacts our lifestyles”. DeKalb is recruiting new businesses in healthcare, technology and other industries, and he wants DeKalb to have “the greenest government in America”), and Sam Olens of Cobb mentioned that “education is key”, starting with “showing up for Kindergarten”.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named the Cobb County Water System its 2009 WaterSense partner of the year in the Large Utility category, and the county is # 17 on the EPA’s “certified green” list, prompting Olens to remark that “Cobb is already green” – a little swipe at the speaker who preceded him?

More provocative than the other two counties’ speakers, Olens advocated for (1) the arts, mentioning the Gwinnett Arena and the Cobb Energy Center as examples of bringing the arts to the people, for (2) light rail, proposing to connect the City of Atlanta with Kennesaw State University, for (3) buying up park land to expand green spaces, and for (4) redoing the old, dilapidated traffic corridors (“areas now only good for loitering”), such as Cobb Parkway and Memorial Drive (another swipe at DeKalb?) with mixed-use redevelopment, saying several times that he is tired of talking and wants to see “dirt moving”. Not leaving the state of Georgia unscathed in his comments, Olens said he opposes giving tax abatements to companies that do not bring high-tech jobs to the state.

So, how does all this tie into IBM and its technology solutions?

We can learn from Brisbane, Albuquerque, Malta, Sao Paolo, Masdar City and other places around the globe. The question is: are we willing to learn, or do we think we already know it all (like the south Georgia father who does not see a need for his son to have a college education), here in Atlanta, in Georgia, in the United States?

Welcome!

After having been an "Atlanta Biz Woman" for a while, I founded Atlanta Women in Business in 1992 - a membership organization of business, career and professional women that provides networking and educational opportunities.

Over the years, this organization has had its ups and downs (know of any that have not?), and today we are once again on an upswing, with new members, new interests, new initiatives - and a few discards. With regard to the latter, we are not necessarily doing away with our annual Results Count award, but I will give up its web site.

That is a "less". Now a "more": we have started a book project in which all members can participate (limit: 20 - first come, first in!) as chapter authors. The project is under the leadership of Angela Durden, a writer herself and a longtime member of our organization.

I have a wonderful Advisory Board for Atlanta Women in Business this year: Patricia Bowen (like me, an international business woman who is choosing to stay closer to home these days), Pamela Van Fleet (banker) and Jennifer Wightman (project manager for a technology company and, like Pam, one of our career members). That reminds me, I should explain what I mean by "business, career and professional women". Business women are entrepreneurs, working for themselves, either by themselves or as employers of others; career women work in the corporate world, and professional women are members of what is generally considered "the professions", e.g. attorneys, engineers, physicians, scientists, etc. The breakdown of these groups within our organization is roughly 40%, 50%, and 10%.

There is, by the way, a membership application form on our web site - in case you'd like to join us. You are welcome!