Welcome to Curated Morning. A compendium of news, information, and stories that business owners, entrepreneurs, creators, economic development professionals, community development leaders, and elected officials read every week to stay in touch with what is happening in our economy.

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Unlike traditional economic development training, the Next Wave Leadership Mastermind goes beyond technical foundations.

It's not just about business attraction and retention, or entrepreneurship development and workforce.

It's about leading under challenging circumstances, overcoming unbearable obstacles, recovering from big mistakes, and most importantly, leading effectively.

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Like how to overcome unbearable obstacles.
Like how to recover from a big mistake.
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The Main Thing:

Gifting is an art. I know people, some in my family, who are very good at picking out gifts for their loved ones. They put a lot of thought into it, and in the end, the recipient is impressed and grateful for such a loving and thoughtful gesture.

There are many clichés around gift giving, such as "It's a thought that counts," and "It's the little things that count.” My favorite is, “It's the gift that keeps on giving.”

These phrases are quite profound and can be used when we think about how we want to achieve our goals. So often, we create big goals and then beat ourselves up when we don't reach them.

Give yourself the gift of starting small. It may work better than you think. Read my thoughts about this, plus some actionable tips in this week's blog post.

Focus On Leadership

Ditch the Whiteboard: Why Your Next Economic Development Strategy Session Needs Better Questions, Not More Ideas

Forget everything you know about brainstorming. That familiar scene of people staring at whiteboards while someone cheerfully declares, "there are no bad ideas" is killing your team's creativity. McKinsey researchers have developed a more innovative approach called "brainsteering" that replaces random idea generation with focused, question-based sessions.

Their seven-step method helps teams generate fewer but significantly better ideas by understanding decision criteria upfront, asking the right questions, choosing participants strategically, and breaking into small, focused groups.

Why This Matters: Economic developers spend countless hours in strategy sessions trying to generate new approaches for business attraction, workforce development, and community revitalization. Yet most of these sessions follow the same unproductive pattern: broad discussions that create dozens of unfocused ideas that never see daylight. This research-backed approach offers a blueprint for making your planning sessions dramatically more effective. Instead of asking "How can we attract more businesses?" try "What's the biggest avoidable hassle our target companies face when considering our market?" The shift from quantity to quality thinking can transform how your organization approaches everything from incentive design to marketing strategy.

Take Action: Audit your last three major planning sessions and identify how many generated ideas became implemented programs—the results may surprise you. Before your next strategic planning retreat, define specific decision criteria, including budget limits, timeline constraints, and regulatory boundaries that ideas must work within. Develop 15-20 focused questions that force participants to consider new perspectives on familiar challenges, such as "What complexity do we manage daily that, if eliminated, would change how we operate?" Choose participants based on their direct knowledge of the issues rather than their organizational status.

Read Seven Steps to Better Brainstorming in McKinsey Quarterly.

Government Gets a Glow-Up: Five Trends That Will Transform Public Sector Performance in 2025

Government agencies worldwide are facing a perfect storm of citizen skepticism, tight budgets, and service expectations—but 2025 might be the year they finally crack the code. New research identifies five critical trends reshaping public sector operations: meeting modern citizen service expectations, serious AI adoption, closing workforce skills gaps, advancing equity initiatives, and building organizational resilience. With trust in government at historic lows across 17 countries, including the U.S., agencies are under pressure to deliver Amazon-level service experiences while navigating complex regulatory environments.

Why This Matters: Economic developers operate at the intersection of public and private sectors, making government modernization trends directly relevant to your success. When your local government struggles with outdated systems or poor citizen service, it reflects on the entire community's business climate and competitiveness. Understanding these trends helps you anticipate policy changes, identify collaboration opportunities, and position your organization as a bridge between evolving government capabilities and private sector needs.

Take Action: Assess your local government partners' positions on these five modernization trends and identify collaboration opportunities, particularly around AI implementation and workforce development. Create feedback mechanisms to help government partners understand how their modernization efforts impact business attraction and retention, positioning yourself as a valuable strategic advisor in their transformation journey.

Read by Government trends 2025: 5 priorities reshaping the public sector by Dante Ricci in The Future of Commerce.

Beyond PowerPoint: Why Economic Developers Need a Communication Makeover in the AI Era

As artificial intelligence churns out endless presentations and polished content, audiences are craving something technology can't replicate: genuine human presence. According to communication experts at Duarte Inc., the real challenge isn't creating better slides—it's developing the ability to connect authentically across multiple formats. Modern business communication has evolved from single presentations into interconnected systems where one message might flow through written memos, panel discussions, video clips, and social media posts. The shift toward conversational formats like interviews and Q&As might look casual, but it requires more intensive preparation than traditional keynotes. With 95% of people trusting brands more after in-person events, the human element has become the ultimate competitive advantage.

Why This Matters: Economic developers live at the intersection of multiple audiences—from C-suite executives evaluating your community to residents questioning development decisions to investors seeking authentic partnerships. Your credibility depends on showing up with genuine presence, whether you're pitching at a site selection conference, moderating a community forum, or appearing on a local podcast. As AI-generated content floods the market, your ability to connect human-to-human becomes your most valuable differentiator.

Take Action: Invest in training that builds presence and authenticity rather than just presentation polish, focusing on skills like active listening, improvisation, and reading room dynamics. Develop a "constellation of moments" strategy where your key messages flow seamlessly from board presentations to podcast interviews to social media content. Audit your current communication approach across all formats—written materials, virtual meetings, social media, public presentations, and informal conversations—to identify where you're strongest and where you need development.

Read Owning the Room in the Age of AI by Nancy Duarte in MIT Sloan Management Review

Something You Should Read:

The essay that follows is a dire yet interesting scenario of the evolution of AI. The authors of this scenario write:

"We predict that the impact of superhuman AI over the next decade will be enormous, exceeding that of the Industrial Revolution. We wrote a scenario that represents our best guess about what that might look like. It's informed by trend extrapolations, wargames, expert feedback, experience at OpenAI, and previous forecasting successes."

Read this predictive essay here, but be forewarned, it's not for the squeamish.

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Overheard:

'We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.' –

Epictetus

The Rabbit Hole:

Weather Report: Heat Diminishing, Cool Air Coming…and so are the Peepers!

Many of us are still running our air conditioners to ward off the heat and humidity of late summer. But it's never too early to start anticipating my favorite time of year. And that is Fall.

Fall was always, and still is, the season of new beginnings for many people, as opposed to Spring, which nature would dictate is the time when things begin anew.

But as we all know, Fall is the beginning of the new school year, which means new grade levels, new schools, new teachers, and new opportunities for friends and relationships. Fall also marks the beginning of the new football season, a time when communities come together to support their teams, a tradition I was a part of for many years.

However, Fall is the time of year when Mother Nature begins to turn things down. It's when we start to gather our crops and store things away for the cold season that is about to begin.

The air becomes crisp, and temperatures start to fall. Time for leaves to change. In the Northeast, they called people who came up from the city "Leaf Peepers."

I admit I'm a leaf peeper too. And practically anywhere you go in North America, there are opportunities to witness the breathtaking beauty of fall foliage in its glory. The article in the link below will guide you to the best places to see the fall colors as we approach the cooler season.

Find places to see the Fall Colors here. Be a leaf peeper!

Unlock Resilience --Ryan Holiday on Epictetus

Resiliency is a topic I cover in my new newsletter JustBe. One of the best modern philosophers to discuss resiliency in the context of the ancient Stoics is Ryan Holiday. If you don't know who he is, you can check him out here. In this video, Holiday explores the life of Epictetus—a man born into slavery who overcame unimaginable hardships and became a guiding light in Stoic philosophy.

Holiday weaves together stories from Epictetus's life, real-world examples of everyday setbacks, and immediately actionable Stoic techniques. He introduces the transformative idea that, in every challenging situation, we have a choice: Will we hold resentment and bitterness, or embrace forgiveness, fortitude, and practical wisdom?

In the video, Holiday says Epictetus would tell us that focusing on what you can control (and letting go of the rest) is the ultimate foundation for resilience. And the Stoic principle of "amor fati"—loving your fate—and how reframing adversity can turn obstacles into opportunities for growth.
Check out the video here.

Does Coffee Dehydrate You? Busting the Common Hydration Myth

I drink about two cups of coffee every morning. I have learned a couple of things about coffee recently. First coffee is most effective if you drink it ninety minutes after waking up. So don't start drinking coffee the minute you get up. Second, don't drink coffee past noon if you want good quality sleep later that night. Coffee has a 12-hour half-life, so you might have trouble falling asleep. At the very least, your sleep quality will suffer.

How about coffee as a diuretic? We have all heard that. Coffee supposedly leaves you dehydrated.

Think again. Despite caffeine's reputation as a diuretic, new research indicates that moderate coffee consumption isn't the hydration enemy it's often made out to be. Registered dietitians and recent research explain how the body adapts to caffeine, meaning your daily cup of joe can contribute to your fluid intake rather than detract from it.

This article unpacks the science behind coffee's effects on hydration, clarifying that while drinking large amounts of coffee (5 or more cups in one sitting) might have a mild dehydrating impact, most coffee lovers need not worry.

Whether you're a habitual coffee drinker or only indulge occasionally, understanding how caffeine interacts with your body can help you stay confidently hydrated.

If you've ever hesitated to count coffee as part of your daily fluid intake, this article provides clear, practical guidance to set the record straight—and help you sip with confidence.

Read about the effects of coffee dehydration here.

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If you have any thoughts or comments regarding any articles in this newsletter please feel free to contact me through email at martin@martinkarlconsulting.com.

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Time to Read Curated Morning (#204) for August 21, 2025