The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority announced yesterday that nearly 375 million people took public transportation in fiscal year 2008. With soaring gasoline prices, home owners bills, car payments, credit card debt, energy crisis, among other things that clean out our wallets, it’s not wonder that the MBTA is seeing the highest number of riders in its 44-year history.
Boston is not the only place seeing this trend. The American Public Transportation Associated reported 10.3 millions trips taken on public transportation in 2007, and saw a 3.4% increase of ridership in the first quarter of 2008. Officials believe this trend is to continue with the current economy, but foresee crowding problems. Several MBTA riders have said they have seen an influx of crowding on trains and buses, even early morning commutes at 6AM. However, some cities are making changes to accommodate the new riders. Chicago, for example, removed seats on some of its subway cars to fit more people. Will others follow suit?
MBTA officials said they are trying to retain all riders even if gas prices go down, and are willing to try any method to do so. Not only is it better for the environment, but also reduces traffic and parking problems in the city.
Endeavor’s goal in a nut shell is: to create as many good jobs in emerging markets as they possibly can. The model is simple: provide high-potential entrepreneurs in emerging countries with everything that Venture Capitalists provide the most innovative entrepreneurs in America - minus the capital.
Endeavor’s “mentor capitalist” model breaks down economic and cultural barriers through rigorous screening and strategic advising from a network of world-class business leaders. With their guidance, 266 Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created 79,000 jobs and generated $1.9 billion in revenues.
It’s ingenious and hands down the best bottom-up strategy that a non-profit can use to leverage free-market capitalism in emerging and developing countries. Endeavor’s model fully embraces the truth that the wealth of nations resides in our minds. The explosion in the world’s wealth is simply a product of man’s innovations - a product of his mind. With that said, capital is of course absolutely essential to scale a company quickly, but to think capital first is not the right paradigm. Capital will follow work ethic and innovative excellence.
As a side note Goldman Sachs just released a white paper on July 7, 2008 - “The Expanding Middle:
The Exploding World Middle Class and Falling Global Inequality” (FT commentary).
Friends, it seems that Randy could no longer bless us with his presence. He passed today from complications with cancer. Although I am sad to see him leave us, he has touched and inspired millions through his teachings, his last lecture, and his book, “The Last Lecture”.
I don’t believe he would want any of us to despair. Rather, he wants all of us to make the most of our lives and to focus on living a life that pursues our dreams.
Some of my favorite quotes from Randy are:
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
“Enabling the dreams of others is even more fun [than achieving your own dreams].”
“The inspiration and permission to dream is HUGE.”
“The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”
“Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you feel more welcome.”
“Experience is what you get when you don’t get want you wanted.”
“We don’t beat the [grim reaper] by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well.”
“It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, but it is the things we do NOT do that we regret.”
“Find your passion and follow it. You will not find that passion in things or in money and you will never be happy if these things are your passion.”
If I were to have a conversation with Randy in person, I can imagine it right now. He would say to me, “What are your dreams and what are you doing to achieve them?”
It might be time to switch your method of commute from gas-guzzling machines to leg-powered two wheelers. With global warming fears looming more than ever, Boston Globe correspondent Ty Burr gives tips on how to make the switch in this informative, yet humorous article.
A top performing workforce development program is Cincinnati Works. Considering there are hundreds and hundreds of non-profit programs helping the jobless find jobs, why am I highlighting this program? What originally turned me on to this program was a workforce development program that Barbara Elliot started called The Working Connection. I admit that only working in the non-profit sector for a year does not make me an expert, in spite of the fact that my job is to find the highest performing programs serving the poor and needy, but Barbara Elliot has been identifying the very best programs for years, and seems to have an uncanny eye for finding the very best. When I noticed that she modeled her program The Working Connection after Cincinnati Works, that was all the endorsement I needed.
Cincinnati Works trains 400-600 people each year and has achieved an unprecedented 84% retention rate through their retention, support and advancement programs. The American Institute for Full Employment has selected the Cincinnati Works model as a Best Practices model program and The Harvard Business Review featured the model in its December 2006 issue. I realize a claim of “unprecedented” is hard to prove, but based on the professionalism of the program and the reviewers I’m willing to accept the fact that nobody does retention better than Cincinnati Works - and for that reason alone they deserve to be the highlighted high performing organization of he week.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority announced yesterday that nearly 375 million people took public transportation in fiscal year 2008. With soaring gasoline prices, home owners bills, car payments, credit card debt, energy crisis, among other things that clean out our wallets, it’s not wonder that the MBTA is seeing the highest number of riders in its 44-year history.
