Crain's is no longer stuck in 2008
John Campanelli - It's called “distracted walking.” People, with their eyes glued down to their smartphones, are apparently walking into poles, trees and each other at alarming rates in cities around...
View ArticleA creative thinking brainstorm
John Campanelli - A couple weeks back, I wrote about the importance — and difficulty — of finding time for the crucial task of strategic thinking. I asked for your advice on how you do your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Crain's Akron is a big, worthwhile step
John Campanelli - The distance between Cleveland and Akron is about 40 miles. For some people, it may as well be 400. These are the Cleveland people who never think about Akron, or if they do it's as...
View ArticleWhen excitement becomes obsession
John Campanelli - Wile E. Coyote caught the Road Runner once. It happened in “Soup or Sonic,” an animated short made in 1980, years after Warner Brothers' best work. At the end of the cartoon, Coyote...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Doomsday Clock for Cleveland's curse
John Campanelli - The Doomsday Clock. What a concept. When the clock strikes midnight, the world is obliterated, whether in nuclear war or “unchecked climate change.” The Doomsday Clock is the...
View ArticleIt's time to embrace the makers
John Campanelli - Last Saturday, I did a few things I've never done before. I spent about 20 minutes learning to be a DJ, scratching vinyl — nowhere close to the beat — to old-school rap songs on...
View ArticleThe real power of LeBron James
John Campanelli - I go back and read LeBron James’ “I’m Coming Home” Sports Illustrated essay pretty regularly. I carry a copy in my wallet as if it were a historic document, because I believe it...
View ArticleAppreciating the bigger picture
John Campanelli - Two decades ago, I worked nights with a veteran newspaper editor who often told the same joke as we searched the wires for articles to fill the news holes that popped up between...
View ArticleGathering up some odds and ends ...
John Campanelli - MARK YOUR CALENDARS — We are less than a month away from Ohio's first “sales tax holiday.” From Friday, Aug. 7, through Sunday, Aug. 9, shoppers in Ohio won't pay sales tax on...
View ArticleWisdom comes from many places
John Campanelli - Someday I want to open my own business, a small egg farm maybe or a microbrewery — or a combination of the two. “Eggs and a Keg,” I’ll call it. If that ever happens, I figure I’ll...
View ArticleWeed: Real industry, real news
John Campanelli - It was just before noon when I got Noelle Skodzinski on the phone last week. She'd spent the morning doing what editors in the news business do these days: searching news feeds,...
View ArticleBeer doesn't belong at Buckeyes games
John Campanelli - Coach John Cooper and I arrived on Ohio State's campus in 1988. Five (or so) years later, I had a degree, a wonderful fiancé ... and zero wins against Michigan. Those were rough...
View ArticleMake sure to notice pivot opportunities
John Campanelli - Lonnie Johnson, a nuclear and aerospace engineer, loved to tinker at home while his wife and kids slept. One night in 1982, after his day job at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in...
View ArticleDon't let fear control your life
John Campanelli - It was after hours on a weekday a few years ago when my publisher called me into his office. We were at a small trade newspaper, covering a niche industry. I was the editor,...
View ArticleStaying strong in time of weakness
John Campanelli - The mailman must have seen the out-of-state plates, or maybe he just wanted to break up the monotony of his route along one of Ann Arbor's quiet residential streets. Regardless, he...
View ArticleEmbracing science, not food labeling
John Campanelli - With The Donald grabbing so much attention over the summer, you might have missed the news of the U.S. House passing something called the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of...
View ArticleA look into the political crystal ball
John Campanelli - This month marks 37 years since President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act. How did that work out? Instead of looking back, maybe it's best to look forward and play a...
View ArticleCyber hackers think big, and so should you
John Campanelli - Credit card numbers are small potatoes. Big-time computer hackers are after proprietary information: source code, pharmaceutical research, legal documents, chemical formulas,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Republican National Convention will need everyone's help
John Campanelli - We are now less than nine months until the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Like parents readying a nursery, swarms of workers in yellow vests are buzzing around...
View ArticleUber is a way of life for young professionals
John Campanelli - It’s tough to talk to Soo Mee Yoon and not be envious. She’s in her mid-20s, lives downtown, works for the Cavaliers and, as a foodie, enjoys her nights out eating from the...
View Article