Media Power - Who wants to be Governor?

Lots of people, apparently!

On the Democratic side, here in Georgia, we have Roy Barnes and Thurmond Baker (and a bunch of others who are not getting any traction). Mr. Barnes, one-term Governor before Sonny Perdue defeated him in 2002, has the experience, the big bucks and many TV ads; he is way ahead in the polls. Mr. Baker, in second place in the polls, has the media atmospherics, a good reputation as Attorney General, and little else. Unless something drastic happens between now and July 20, Mr. Barnes will win the primary handily.

There is an even more crowded field on the Republican side, with John Oxendine, current Insurance Commissioner, and Karen Handel, former Secretary of State, in the lead. Former U.S. Congressman Nathan Deal is in third place and a man named Eric Johnson, unknown to me until I started seeing his ads on TV, in fourth. And others, whose names I still do not recognize.

In our red State, and with the Democrat primary pretty well concluded before the ballots are all cast, the Republican candidates are getting all the attention. Mr. Oxendine’s ubiquitous ads stress job creation. Mr. Deal’s awkward ad takes on ‘illegal immigration’, Mr. Johnson, who has been advertising on TV longer than any of the others, wants to lower taxes, and Ms. Handel, who has one ad out with what seems to be a limited buy, talks about government ethics. Mr. Oxendine is unlikely to win this race without a run-off. So, with whom will he be in the run-off? It should be Ms. Handel, but she is all but invisible on TV. Thus, it could well be Mr. Johnson, as his ads are everywhere.

A week from tomorrow we will know!

Living History

This blog has been suffering from inattention because it is gardening season in my part of the country and every minute I am not indoors working for my clients, or in meetings with them at various locations around town, I am in my garden!

However, yesterday I had such an extraordinary experience that it's got to be mentioned here.

I had an interview with a businessman whose on-line bio I have been commissioned to write and who is a living piece of Georgia history, with family roots that include a Revolutionary War spy, a colorful, notorious pirate, a justice on Georgia's original Supreme Court, a Native American adoptive mother, and a whaling ship – wow! And that's only the beginning. I am encouraging him to convert this oral history into a book. To be followed by a Hollywood script?

Karen Handel for Governor

Do not mistake me for a Republican!

But I am, as Founder and Principal of Atlanta Women in Business, walking the walk, by expressing my support of Karen Handel’s candidacy for Governor of Georgia. It’s time, in this state, that we take another crack at breaking up the Good Old Boys Network under the Capitol dome.

I know first-hand, because she spoke about this at the 2006 conference of Atlanta Women in Business, that Karen supports business and the role of women in the business world; I know she is smart and committed, I regret that she is a “politician”, frankly, and I don’t care that she is a Republican (as long as no one thinks I am one!). Most of all, I am confident that she is the right person for the job!

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?

Education in Georgia

When I chose the “Education” breakout session as a recent IBM “Smarter Planet” event, my two topics of interest where professional development for women (having observed that women are interested in having it, but only if their employers pay for it) and global curiosity (having observed that not just Georgians but Americans in general are fiercely uncurious about other countries, cultures, languages, people, and global careers.

During the 2-hour discussion, the focus, however, was Georgia’s high school dropout rate; causes and possible remedies. In the process, I learned a few things.

In Atlanta schools, 65-70% of the teachers are “old”, have tenure and are not prepared for the 21st century, despite lots of training. Unions are to blame. Teachers want to be regarded as “professionals”, but unionization prohibits this image.

Top university graduates do not want to go into teaching; parental pressure: “We did not send you to college to become a teacher!” Teachers come out of the bottom 1/3 of college graduates.

Skills needed for the future: communications, how to think; today’s young people are on-line, but do not know how to communicate.

Inadequate education leads to crime, New York City, with a population of 8.8 million has 13,000 people in jail; Atlanta, with a population of 4 million, has 14,000 in jail. The recidivism rate is 40%. What can Georgia do better?

Young people’s attitudes need to change. Very few will become super athletes or rock stars. How about parental expectations? “Below the gnat line” (Augusta-Macon-Columbus), with the exception of Savannah, fathers still tell their sons that education beyond high school is not necessary: “I did well enough without going to college, and you can too!”

The topics I proposed? Professional education was barely touched on (only by a school system administrator, who said there is plenty of it, costs the system tons of money and delivers few if any noticeable results) and the necessity of educating our children so that they can compete for jobs with global counterparts was endorsed by only one of the other 15 or so people in the room. I had hoped to ask if the participants were aware of the “Two Million Minutes” documentary (http://www.2mminutes.com/), but the focus was so immediately local that the opportunity did not present itself.