When I tumbled out of the house on a recent Saturday morning to get my latte at Starbucks, I was struck by the awkward formality of the young woman at the register. Then I realized where I was. I was in East Palo Alto, Calif. A few years back, gang warfare was so intense that East Palo Alto had more murders per capita than any city in the country. Even today, no grocery chain will operate a store there. It was big news when a bank opened a branch, becoming the first in the city for as long as residents can remember.

Yet there I was in a newly built island of branded America—Starbucks, Office Depot, McDonald’s, Home Depot, a Home Depot Design Center, and a host of other stores. The woman at Starbucks, I surmised, sounded like she was following a script because she was; she was new to the job. So, perhaps, were the workers I had seen streaming into Home Depot. Many, I imagined, hadn’t previously been able to get out of East Palo Alto and find jobs in the affluent surrounding towns.

Focusing on the brands, I had thought nothing of going to East Palo Alto to save a minute off my normal Starbucks trip. Many other people apparently feel the same way, based on the traffic I see in the shopping area. Providing tax revenue and entry-level jobs with major corporations, commerce may yet change the ethic of East Palo Alto, much as I saw it start to better Mexico when I lived there in the mid-1990s.

At a time of accounting scandals and relentless stories of greedy executives, it’s comforting to see the good in capitalism. There really can be a higher cause associated with business and its brands.

As we planned this issue, it was also comforting to see that executives’ agendas have begun to move away from cost-cutting and toward the sort of organic growth that will help the economy accelerate, bolstering not only the East Palo Altos of the world but a lot of others besides.

That optimism shows up strongly in “Rising From the Ashes,” which says that many online businesses have found new ways of doing business, despite the general perception that e-commerce was a flop. The two other features—“Better Times in Store,” about the retailing industry, and “Cincinnati
Bell(wether),” about the local telephone company—provide further examples of how smart use of technology can produce growth and boost profits.

“Hitting a Nerve” lays out a new, low-cost method for figuring out which products will produce a burst of demand because they strike a nerve in customers. The book excerpt, “No More Excuses!” explains how “corporate venturing” is an important, low-risk way to find innovative growth strategies. “Strong Medicine” shows how a relentless focus on innovation has made Medtronic Inc. a market leader.

The interview, with prominent European politician Lord Leon Brittan, lifts the discussion to an even higher plane. Lord Brittan looks at the sweep of history following the Second World War and argues that terrorism will be unable to disrupt the move toward free trade and a more global economy.

This issue is the most optimistic we’ve done in some time. Here’s hoping events warrant making the next one even more so.

Cheers,

Paul B. Carroll
Editor-in-Chief