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

The Main Thing:

Are you AI 'punch-drunk' yet? Are you scared? Are you worried about what the future holds regarding AI, or are you excited and stoked about how this technology might enhance humanity? I suppose this is a time when you can have some cognitive dissonance. You can hold and believe in two opposing thoughts: AI is great and scary at the same time.

But like any other technological change—or, let's call it, a revolution—AI can be daunting, and frankly, it's hard to keep up. Many folks want to throw their hands up and say, "Let me know when it's over."

Keeping tabs on AI is like watching a movie or TV show that depicts an operation or medical procedure. I cover my eyes. I don't even watch the phlebotomist draw my blood when the doctor wants to see how sticky the blood in my arteries is.

You know it's happening, but you don't look until it's over. That's how many people feel about AI.

The problem is that, as economic development professionals, we have a responsibility to do more than that. We have an ethical obligation to ensure that AI is implemented responsibly in our communities.

Yes, we want the jobs and the capital investment of those big data centers, but just like a dirty old school industry, we don't wish to pollute or harm our community.

We want what's good, and we want a positive future for those who follow in our footsteps. That is what I write about this week on "Being Kind to Generations Not Yet Born."

Read Championing Ethical Technology Development: AI and the Future

Podcast Alert:

Many economic developers know Laith Wardi as the Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) guru. He is a humble man, and would shy away from that moniker, but we all know it's true. When Laith is not teaching thousands of professional economic developers how to do BRE, he is also hosting a radio show/podcast called Economic Pulse Radio in his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania and is the founder of Gem City Growth Strategies

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be a guest on the podcast. Laith and producer Joel Natalie welcomed me to discuss the importance of staying on top of emerging trends inside and outside the ED context. The Hosts are Tina Mengine - CEO of Erie County Redevelopment Authority, and Laith Wardi - Founder of Gem City Growth Strategies.

You can listen to the episode here.

Focus On Leadership

Power Up Your Professional Voice: Why Economic Developers Need to Drop These Confidence-Killing Phrases

A former world champion debater turned Google communications expert has identified a troubling pattern she calls "imposing syndrome" that's holding back professionals, particularly in fields like economic development, where relationship-building is crucial. Kate Mason, PhD, who spent a decade at tech giants before founding her strategic communications firm Hedgehog + Fox, reveals in her new book, "Powerfully Likeable," how seemingly polite phrases undermine professional credibility. Through her executive coaching work, Mason discovered that many leaders minimize their accomplishments and requests to avoid "being a bother,” a self-deprecating habit that has an insidious effect on their work and standing. She identifies three particularly damaging phrases: "It'll just take a second" (which sets unrealistic expectations), "No worries if not" (which signals your request isn't important), and "I'm not an expert, but..." (which instantly erodes your credibility before you've even made your point).

Why This Matters: Economic developers live in a world of constant communication – pitching projects to investors, negotiating with site selectors, presenting to boards, and building community coalitions. Every interaction is an opportunity to demonstrate expertise and build confidence in your community's potential. When economic developers minimize their requests or downplay their knowledge, they inadvertently signal that their community's opportunities aren't worth serious consideration. Mason's research suggests that women in economic development may be especially prone to these communication patterns, potentially limiting their influence in a field where assertive advocacy for community interests is essential.

Take Action: Audit your email communications from the past week and identify instances where you minimized your requests or expertise – then practice rewriting them with Mason's suggested alternatives. Before your next investor meeting or site visit, prepare specific time estimates for discussions and frame them positively ("I've reserved 45 minutes to showcase our three prime development sites"). Train your entire economic development team on these communication principles through a workshop or lunch-and-learn session.

Read 3 ‘minimizing’ phrases you should never say at work, from a communication expert by Sophie Caldwell | CNBC Make It

Five Innovation Moves That Turn Green Goals Into Growth Engines

Sustainability doesn't have to be a compliance headache. Sustainability practices can be your next competitive advantage in economic development. A comprehensive study of leading global companies reveals how forward-thinking organizations are transforming environmental commitments into revenue streams and market opportunities. Examples include Italian utility Enel turning streetlights into innovative infrastructure platforms, and Brazilian paper manufacturer Suzano creating a superior product from fast-growing eucalyptus trees. These innovators demonstrate that sustainability and profitability aren't mutually exclusive. The research identifies five critical practices: reframing sustainability as opportunity rather than obligation, partnering with mission-aligned customers, seeking unconventional collaborators, adopting long-term visioning processes, and building cross-industry coalitions. What distinguishes these success stories from failures like Swedish startup Renewcell, which went bankrupt despite inventing an innovative recycled fiber, is their ability to navigate the dual challenges of maintaining performance metrics while solving problems that extend beyond organizational boundaries.

Why This Matters: Economic developers often view sustainability initiatives as nice-to-have amenities rather than a core economic strategy. This research challenges that assumption by demonstrating how sustainability-driven innovation creates tangible competitive advantages that can attract and retain advanced industries. Companies pursuing ambitious environmental goals need partners throughout their value chains. This creates multiple entry points for economic developers to engage. Furthermore, the coalition-building approach highlighted in the research suggests that regions willing to convene multi-stakeholder partnerships around sustainability challenges can position themselves as innovation hubs. The companies studied are creating new products, entering new markets, and building entirely new business models. Communities that understand this dynamic can market themselves as sustainable places to do business and as laboratories for sustainability-driven innovation.

Take Action: Conduct an inventory of companies in your region with public sustainability commitments and identify gaps in their local supply chains where new businesses could emerge to support these goals. Convene regular roundtables that bring together corporations with sustainability targets, startups developing green technologies, university researchers, and workforce development leaders to identify collaboration opportunities. Develop case studies showcasing how local companies have successfully commercialized sustainability innovations to demonstrate proof of concept to prospective investors. Create a "sustainability innovation district" designation for areas with concentrations of green technology companies, renewable energy infrastructure, or circular economy businesses to build critical mass and attract like-minded firms.

Read Integrate Sustainability and Innovation to Find New Opportunities by Ivanka Visnjic, Felipe Monteiro, Michael Tushman, and Ernesto Ciorra | MIT Sloan Management Review

The Two-Way Street: Why Gen Z's Workplace Revolution Needs More Than Demands

Gen Z is reshaping workplace expectations with calls for transparency, structure, and work-life balance. Creating the culture they want requires more than critiquing outdated leadership. A provocative new perspective argues that while leadership must absolutely evolve, younger workers must also recognize their role in building better workplaces. The piece challenges a familiar narrative: that disengaged employees are simply responding to bad management. Instead, it suggests disengagement can actually reinforce poor leadership, creating a vicious cycle. Gen Z faces a unique challenge as the first generation working alongside five generations simultaneously, from boomers delaying retirement to the cohort entering behind them. This multigenerational collision means workplace transformation won't come from rejection alone, as it requires active participation, cross-generational collaboration, and the ability to distinguish between truly toxic environments and simply imperfect ones. The call to action is clear: If Gen Z wants different workplaces, they need to co-create them, not just demand them.

Why This Matters: Economic developers invest heavily in workforce development programs, but many focus exclusively on skills training while overlooking the cultural competencies needed for multigenerational workplace success. This matters because companies increasingly cite workforce quality—not just availability—as a site selection factor, and "quality" includes employees' ability to collaborate across age groups and contribute to positive workplace culture. Communities with large universities or Gen Z populations have a competitive advantage if they can demonstrate that their young workers bring both technical skills and workplace maturity.

Furthermore, the multigenerational workplace dynamic creates opportunities for economic developers to differentiate their talent pipelines. Regions that facilitate intergenerational mentorship, teach professional adaptability alongside technical skills, and help younger workers understand workplace norms without abandoning their values for improvement will produce employees that companies actually want to hire and retain.

Take Action: Partner with local colleges and universities to integrate multigenerational workplace competencies into career-readiness programming, including how to give constructive upward feedback and collaborate with colleagues from different age cohorts. Create reverse mentorship programs that pair young workers with experienced professionals at local companies, structured as true two-way exchanges rather than traditional top-down mentoring. Develop case study materials featuring local Gen Z employees who've successfully advocated for workplace improvements, providing concrete examples of constructive engagement rather than just critique. Host facilitated dialogues between hiring managers and recent graduates to surface mutual misunderstandings before they become workplace friction—many conflicts stem from differing expectations that could be clarified early. Include "cultural adaptability" metrics in your workforce quality assessments alongside technical skills, giving you concrete data to share with prospects about your talent pool's ability to thrive in diverse work environments.

Read Gen Z Wants Better Leadership but Are They Ready To Adapt To It by Jeff LeBlanc | Fast Company

Something You Should Read:

McKinsey's 2025 Energy Report: The Paris Agreement is Failing, AI is Devouring the Grid, and Fossil Fuels Aren't Going Anywhere

McKinsey just dropped their Global Energy Perspective 2025, and it's the kind of reality check that makes both climate activists and energy executives uncomfortable—which probably means they're onto something.

The main point is that we're missing Paris targets. All scenarios now show warming above 1.5°C. Even McKinsey's most optimistic "Sustainable Transformation" scenario projects 1.9°C warming by 2100. The middle scenario hits 2.3°C. Nobody wants to say it out loud, but 1.5°C is effectively dead.

AI is eating the grid. Data centers will consume 14% of U.S. electricity by 2030, up from 3% today. That's a 25% annual growth rate nobody saw coming when ChatGPT was just a research project. Those efficiency gains we've been counting on for decades? AI just ate them for breakfast.

Fossil fuels in 2050: Still 41-55% of global energy. Natural gas is growing, not shrinking. Coal is declining slower than hoped. The report calls gas a "destination fuel" rather than a bridge—meaning it's here to stay.

Here's the killer insight: Eliminating the last 5% of power sector emissions costs $90-170 per ton of CO₂. The first 45-70%? Just $20 per ton.

McKinsey's suggestion is heretical but logical: stop trying to perfect the power sector. Take those dollars and deploy them where they'll actually make a difference. It's the kind of pragmatic math that makes purists furious and CFOs relieved.

While everyone focuses on Europe and America, the real energy future is being written in India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. These regions will drive nearly all energy demand growth through 2050. If India's GDP per capita reaches China's current level by 2050, global energy demand jumps 16% above baseline projections. What happens in Mumbai matters more than what happens in Munich.

McKinsey's complete 40-page analysis includes the details that matter: which technologies are actually scaling (spoiler: hydrogen isn't), why nuclear is suddenly back, where the supply chain bottlenecks will hit hardest, and why Southeast Asia might determine the planet's climate future.

For anyone making decisions about energy, infrastructure, or climate strategy, the full Global Energy Perspective 2025 is essential reading. It won't make you feel better about the future, but it will make you understand it.

Overheard:

“There’s no such thing as simple. Simple is hard.”

–Scorsese

The Rabbit Hole:

Your Brain Contains a Plastic Spoon Worth of Microplastics, and Your Apple Has 44 Million More Friends Inside

Remember when the worst thing in your food was finding a hair? Simpler times.

A new study just revealed that the average human brain contains about 4,800 micrograms of plastic per gram of tissue—roughly the equivalent of carrying around a plastic spoon in your skull. Not metaphorically. Literally. A spoon's worth of plastic, just vibing in your think-meat. Here are the greatest hits of plastic cuisine:

Tea Time Terror: Steeping one plastic tea bag releases 11.6 BILLION microplastic particles into your cup. That's billion with a B. It's like a confetti cannon of invisible plastic celebrating your terrible life choices.

Apple of Your Eye (and Arteries): That healthy apple you virtuously packed for lunch? It contains approximately 44.6 million plastic particles. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but apparently invites 44 million uninvited polymer guests to your digestive party.

The Rice Is Wrong: Instant rice contains 4x more plastic than regular rice. Because apparently, the "instant" refers to how quickly it delivers petroleum byproducts to your intestines. Uncle Ben? More like Uncle BPA.

Here is the good news: Sea salt only has 0.4-5.8 particles per teaspoon, making it practically a health food by comparison. Beer contains up to 79 particles per liter, which honestly might explain a lot about your last few decisions.

The study helpfully notes there are "no established safety thresholds for microplastics in the body." Translation: Scientists have absolutely no idea how screwed we are, but they're pretty sure we're screwed.

Are there some solutions? You can switch to loose-leaf tea! Wash your rice! Drink from glass containers! Basically, live like a paranoid Victorian aristocrat who's convinced the servants are trying to poison them. Which, given that we're all slowly becoming human Tupperware, might not be the worst strategy.

Read the full article to discover which foods are trying hardest to turn you into a walking recycling bin, plus genuinely helpful tips for reducing your plastic payload. Because if you're going to transform into a human action figure gradually, you might as well do it slowly.

Coming next week: "Your Colon is Now 2% Lego: A Love Story"

These 5 Dream Destinations Really, Really Don't Want You There (And That's Why You're Dying to Go)

Remember when "playing hard to get" was just a dating strategy? Now, entire countries are doing it. Some countries and tourist attractions don't want you to show up. Ok, that's not totally true, they just want less of you. Here are a few examples of “Go Away” signs:

Bhutan charges you $100 per night just for the privilege of existing within its borders.
Antarctica: Only allows 100 people on shore at once, and ships with 500+ passengers can't land at all.
Machu Picchu: Gives you exactly 4 hours to explore before politely pushing you off the mountain.
Glacier National Park requires you to book a timed reservation just to drive on its roads.
Lord Howe Island takes it to another level: a maximum of 400 visitors at a time, with one flight per day.

These places have cracked the code: Nothing makes humans want something more than being told they can't have it. Bhutan welcomed 145,000 tourists last year, while India got 19 million. Guess which one ends up on more bucket lists?

It's like these destinations hired the world's best reverse psychologist. "Oh, you want to visit? That'll be $100 a day to exist here; you need to book 4 months in advance, and we might let 100 of you stand on our land for 15 minutes. Take it or leave it."

Read the full article to discover which paradise is playing hardest to get, plus actual, valuable tips for planning your pilgrimage to these places that definitely don't want you (which is obviously why you need to go immediately).

I Like Me

The character played by Steve Martin is ranting and raving, sounding like an immature high school clique leader, as he pummels the character played by John Candy with insults and invectives clearly designed to hurt his feelings. Many readers will know what movie I am talking about: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

The response by the John Candy character? "I like me," he responds. What a great line. More of us should wake up every morning and say that to ourselves. Our day would likely go better, and we certainly feel better. Because many times if 'we' don't like ourselves, there may be no one left who does. So start with yourself.

"I Like Me" is also the title of the new documentary about John Candy. I remember hearing about his passing in 1994 at the age of 43. Another great one gone, I thought. His larger-than-life characters were always appealing, even when he wasn't the 'likable' one. How could you not like John Candy?

While he showed not only his comedic and dramatic chops in 'Planes,' my favorite role he played was in 'Uncle Buck.' In this movie, he played the underachieving but lovable uncle, intent on changing the minds of his girlfriend, brother, sister-in-law, and niece that he was genuinely a good guy. By the end of the movie, we find out that he is. Mackaulay Culkin, of Home Alone fame, in one of his first roles, played the impish nephew who connected with Uncle Buck right away, particularly after a serious interrogation scene that goes down as a classic.

The documentary is an agreeable and entertaining look at the life of John Candy, from his early years to his days as a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

A review of the film can be found here. Written by Nick Digilio, a Chicago-based former radio host and podcaster covering movies, culture, and all things Chicago, it examines the documentary and the life of John Candy.

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Your Curated Morning (#214) for October 30, 2025 is here!