Premier Partners
After years of being on the outside and anticipating who would be Connect Business Magazine’s Business Person of the Year each January, I was excited to be on the other side this year!
Mankato Clinic’s century celebration is collaboration at its best. As the Mankato Clinic celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2016, it wanted to not only reflect on its past but to also focus on the future and how Mankato Clinic can play a bigger role in helping the community achieve better overall health. The “Thrive” campaign was developed with this in mind.
Despite my public persona at times, I am actually a quiet person. My nature is more reserved I would say. I would rather watch and listen silently in the background than be the center of attention. But I have never really been all that shy about my love for the southern Minnesota region.
As I speak with and interview business leaders in our community, one thing is apparent: the winds of change are a blowin’. One industry in the midst of tremendous transition is health care. And that is an industry that affects every business, every person, every life.
It’s been eroding for years now. A “normal” work day is certainly not what it used to be. The decline of the “9-to-5” job that has historically defined our country’s workforce, is evident. Some working well before 9am and well beyond 5pm. Others, though, taking more control of their time, working when they want, and on projects that they deem valuable. Some experts say the freelance movement is the industrial revolution of our time.
I have always been amazed at the mettle of my friends and acquaintances who take the plunge into starting or buying a business. Cutting ties with a steady paycheck, benefits, regular hours…a boss, has always been a scary proposition for me. Yet, I understand why they do it.
As the deadline for this issue rapidly approached, I found myself with an acute case of writer’s block when it came to this column. Panic was about to ensue. (And trust me, panic only tightens the grip and prevents any useful thoughts from getting through). So, on the eve of the deadline, I decided to just let go of the chaos in my mind, by going to the chaos of the KISS concert at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato.
There are nearly 4,000 agriculture-related job postings in Minnesota alone, and not nearly enough talent out there to fill them. In fact, a recent study shows nationwide 39% of agriculture positions go unfilled.
Agriculture is the largest business segment in the area referred to as the GreenSeam, the southern Minnesota and northern Iowa agricultural region. The region has an economic link between production, processing, professional services, education, technology, research, manufacturing, transportation and more.
