One drive through the Columbia River Gorge, on to southern Idaho, and through the Nevada desert made it clear there is ample wind and solar opportunities awaiting the entrepreneurial spirit to solve problems and create profits through the solution.
My son, Connor, and I just returned from a five state, 2600 mile, journey that combined business and vacation. I keynoted a national conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we visited the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). I keynoted with my signature talk, The Imagination Era, and detailed a high level strategic perspective for the next 15 years .The talk was well received and had the desired effect of broadening perspectives and encouraging a vision of an inspired future state. The second day of the conference I presented, “Navigating A Recession” and taught the six key leadership actions to succeed during a down economy while positioning the venture for greater success and profitability when the recovery arrives. Again, the presentation was well-received and resulted in significant group discussion and sharing. In the evenings in Las Vegas we attended two shows at the casinos and I enjoyed my son’s exposure to comedy and music at the highest levels of performance art. I noticed the great numbers of Asian and European tourists taking advantage of the weak U.S. dollar and the wonderful attractions available in a renewed Las Vegas as it has completed the transition from a gambling mecca to a family tourism repertoire.
Our visit to UNLV was delightful and we had an opportunity to visit with two faculty members of the film school and Connor had his first small taste of university life outside his father’s professional sphere. While we drove through four western states we noticed an increased amount of wind and solar power generators and had a lengthy discussion about future energy solutions. One drive through the Columbia River Gorge, on to southern Idaho, and through the Nevada desert made it clear there is ample wind and solar opportunities awaiting the entrepreneurial spirit to solve problems and create profits through the solution. I believe we will see major advances in energy micro enterprise through the coming decade as local power generation, storage, and transmission entities emerge.
The unfolding economic landscape mirrored past observations as some businesses and locales were flourishing while others were clearly depressed. Overall, the theme was business is down. Interestingly, residential real estate was depressed in Las Vegas while construction on several high rises in the new city core progressed.
In my next Blog, I will continue the story of our five state journey with a report on Southern California.
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