 Each week I highlight important issues in 7 topical areas. You should know they impact me as well. This week, under “Growing Leaders,” I reference good podcasts for leaders to listen to. Since I already follow Simon Sinek, it’s my pleasure to share one of my favorites from him today. Recently Sinek interviewed Matthew Barzun, a fascinating man who sees the world differently – unlike anyone else. Early on he saw the power of internet, small donations in politics… he has been Ambassador to Great Britain and Sweden… and author of The Power of Giving Away Power. He is the master of deferring to others. He’s been a witness to this distinct kind of leadership and watched how people give away power. In 2006, for example, then-Senator Obama visited Louisville, KY, for a big rally. In a spare hour afterwards, he sat down with room full of Republicans from the state. As Barzun tells it, “I figured he’d want to catch up on work… instead he listened, asked questions, sought to know. He lit up the room through his lighting up of everyone else – by giving away power.” Barzun goes on to talk about leadership. To his mind, top-down, “do as I say” leadership doesn’t work. Today, the buzz word instead is “bottom up.” Yet, in both cases we still have a highly structured triangle of power. If you really want to change how leadership looks and sounds to drive innovation and trust, Barzun proposes we consider the alternative, another kind of order: the “constellation.” In this model we each have our own autonomy; we choose to connect to one another to create interesting patterns. Pyramid thinking is more natural, but this alternative can drive real creativity. The example he gave was Wikipedia. A constellation. Its designers, commodities trader from AL, Jimmy Wales, and his team developed the largest human knowledge transfer engine the world has ever seen. They weren’t the gatekeepers or arbiters; continues to be crowd-sourced reference material; the team opened it up to all of us to co-create. And it will last forever. Not perfect, to be sure, but what is? Fascinating, right? The power in you and me encourages each of us to give it away, listen more than we speak, encourage collaboration wherever possible. Very thought-provoking way for me to start the week. See you in the trenches. B  Biden Administration imposes travel ban on eight African nations amid ‘Omicron’ variant,’ another highly contagious variant. What we know and don’t know about this new variant. Really great webinar last week, hosted by the MN Chamber, on President Biden’s Emergency Temporary Standard requiring vaccinations or testing for businesses with 100+ employees. The ETS has been stayed by the 5thCircuit Court. Click to view this on-demand webinar for an update on the federal process and legal overview, Minnesota’s OHSA standards, and best practices to ensure your company is ready to comply with the final guidelines which impact businesses with 100 or more employees.  Upcoming webinar on Wed, 12/1, 12pm CST, on the most recent U.S. Consumer Spending Report, including trends in consumer demand and shopping patterns across demographics. Register here. Officials say a shortage of housing, not jobs, is crimping economic development in Greater Minnesota. Growth requires relocation, relocation requires more housing. Rice Larpenteur Alliance – Ramsey County, St. Paul, Maplewood, and Roseville have been partnering and pooling resources to improve border neighborhood around Rice St and Larpenteur Ave. The partners and community together are transforming the area.  State:
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Public Affairs Issue Forums: one final forum to finish out the year:
Read more updates in our weekly Chamber Advocacy Update.  Holiday Events ahead in St. Paul! The Rice Larpenteur Alliance is excited to present the Shop Local Guide. You’re not uncool. Making friends as an adult is just hard. Your Chamber’s annual Holiday Open House is back December 9 – with a special twist to thank businesses for their years of partnership. We look forward to seeing you there!  ‘Do I have to return to the office?’ Here’s how employers can address that high-stakes question. Returning to the office, but there’s a catch. Vistage recommends 6 podcasts for 2022 leaders should listen to. If you know me at all, you know I follow #3, “A Bit of Optimism,” with Simon Sinek.  Are you wondering about the history of Thanksgiving? The Reformer pointed me to this fascinating piece in the Washington Post about the tribe at the center of the myth of Thanksgiving, who mark the fourth Thursday in November as a day of mourning for the genocide and dispossession of land that followed. The Mashpee Wampanoag were only recognized as a tribe by the federal government in 2007, and they only won a reservation under President Barack Obama, when the Mashpee Wampanoag were able to put 300 acres into a federal trust — about 0.5% of their land historically. Comcast RISE grant awardees to 100 local BIPOC companies are announced!  Fairview Health Services repurposing of St. Joe’s – in a big way: announces expansive health and wellness services at St. Joseph’s campus in St. Paul. This includes a federally qualified health center, outpatient mental health and addiction services, food shelves, and adult day services. Quite impressive.
424-unit rental property in Inver Grove has sold for $98M, $28M increase from 3 years ago, potentially the areas’ top apartment sale of the year. New owners? CoStar reports that the buyer is a Montreal-based real estate investor and developer. The Minneapolis Fed wrote a great piece, Understanding the rise of investor-owned homes. Industrial space is hot, but (no surprise) office market sags. In Q3, the Cities saw 550K SF net positive absorption. Good news. Currently, 5.4M TSF of new space under construction. Also good news. Meanwhile, “COVID still has a stranglehold on the beleaguered office market, at a negative 800K SF net absorption and a total of 1.4M SF under construction. Current office vacancy rate is 10.1%. So I was at a funeral this past weekend. I was one of the speakers and, in advance, I sought some counsel from a wise friend because I was struggling. I wasn’t feeling particularly hopeful, certainly not enlightened, and most definitely not grateful. I bring this up because we’re approaching Thanksgiving, and gratitude is especially important this year because we all have lost so much. I needed to get back in touch with my own gratitude. My friend helped. She suggested, Be the things you love most about the people you miss. I keep saying this to myself, and it keeps hitting me. Yes. I can do that. I can be inviting, welcoming. I can be justice-oriented. I can be fiercely loyal to the people and values I hold close. I can tell the people around me how much I appreciate them. What do you want to “be” as you walk out your own gratitude? May your Thanksgiving and the holiday season ahead be blessed with gratitude you claim for yourself and your family! Hope and optimism for a better tomorrow. See you in the trenches. B  FDA authorizes Pfizer and Moderna boosters for adults. Qualified people are eligible 6 months after their 2nd shot. My personal experience: as soon as I read this, I jumped on the Walgreens website to get scheduled. Walgreens only offered me one date – couldn’t schedule any date but December 6. Doesn’t work for me. So I jumped on the CVS site; lots of date options at a variety of locations, but none of the potential locations on any of my requested dates had available appointments. Hmm… I guess I will have to keep trying. Speaking to Minnesota’s worst 7-day case rate in the country as of a week ago, Gov. Tim Walz won’t declare COVID emergency. ‘Just get vaccinated!’ And for those already vaccinated, get a booster shot when your time comes. 
 State:
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Public Affairs Issue Forums: one final forum to finish out the year:
Read more updates in our weekly Chamber Advocacy Update. Holiday Events ahead in St. Paul! You’re not uncool. Making friends as an adult is just hard. Your Chamber’s annual Holiday Open House is back December 9 – with a special twist to thank businesses for their years of partnership. We look forward to seeing you there! Showing gratitude toward your employees isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also important for retention. A study by Workhuman found companies that gave their employees five moments of recognition per year reduced voluntary turnover by 22%. 3 reasons why gratitude in leadership is essential to success unpacks the power of saying “thank you.” It presents research and insights about the business benefits of gratitude, including boosting creativity, increasing sales and enhancing recruitment. Full Stack: Young adults can now apply for UX Academy through November 30. Applicants must be 18-24 years old and live in Saint Paul or Minneapolis. The 12-week immersive program explores the career pathway of user experience design. Interested in tracking St. Paul’s Full Stack initiative? Sign up for the monthly newsletter here. Where does infrastructure money go in Minnesota? State and local governments are projected to receive $6.8B in federal grants under the $1.2T infrastructure bill signed last week. Here’s what’s headed to Minnesota according to White House estimates.
The Hollows is happening! We’re especially delighted about this one: First-time developer Johnny Opara to build 62-united apartment building in St. Paul. The building on Payne Avenue will include deeply affordable units. STAG, a Boston REIT, buys a St. Paul warehouse at 1700 Wynne Ave for $30.5M. STAG has over 2.9M SF of industrial properties in Minnesota. Its largest property is a 423K SF distribution warehouse on Farwell Ave in South St. Paul. The St. Paul Athletic Club is closing, the site being repositioned as a hotel and event venue. Are you feeling weary? A little run down? I am. So I’m taking charge of this to shift my mindset. I need to RE: RE-energize, REfresh, RElax, REconnect with friends, REmember what I love about this community. I’m heading to Rice Park this Friday evening as we flip the giant switch on thousands of lights to light up the skies and welcome another season of holiday cheer in downtown. Rice Park Powered by Xcel Energy returns with music, games, food trucks, giveaways and more November 19 from 5:30-7 p.m. Then I’m taking several of Visit Saint Paul’s suggestions for a stress-free Thanksgiving weekend. I plan to order dinner to go from one of our many fabulous restaurants. That includes pies (I waited too long last year, and the restaurants I called couldn’t take any new orders). I also plan to buy some of my favorite, Summit – 35 years and still going strong! And, because the kids are home for the weekend, we’ll shop the holiday markets together. Finally, your Chamber’s annual Holiday Open House is Thursday, December 9. This is Saint Paul’s holiday party, all are welcome. Please come and RE with us! See you in the trenches. B  Details of the vaccine rule release: Resource are available at www.osha.gov/coronavirus including fact sheets, compliance assistance materials, and FAQs. In addition, employers may email [email protected]. Meanwhile, federal appeals court halts rollout of President Biden’s company vaccine rule. Across the country, voter response is mixed. How are we doing with new cases? The Delta variant drives big increase in breakthrough infections, but vaccines still protect. About 84% of cases in 2021 have been people who were unvaccinated. Hospitals are facing very real and serious pressures. New COVID-19 cases associated with preK-12 schools may be on the decline in Minnesota, according to data released by the Minnesota Department of Health Thursday. During the week of Oct. 10 — the most recent week for which there is complete data — 1,923 students had COVID-19 at school, down from more than 2,600 the week before. Health officials hope the approval last week of a COVID-19 vaccine for children will curb transmission among students. More than 18,500 Minnesotans ages 5 to 11 have gotten one dose of vaccine so far, along with 264,000 children and teens ages 12 to 17 — or about 60% of that age group.  Inflation is increasing at its quickest pace in three decades. And the government bond market is showing worry. Things look great across most financial markets, with everything from stocks to Bitcoin near record highs. That’s not the case in the market often seen as the most steady and sober of them all: government bonds. In the bond market, yield can be thought of as what an investor demands to be paid for loaning Uncle Sam money. Normally, the longer it takes to get paid back, the more an investor wants to be paid. But now, the gap between yields of longer-term and shorter-term Treasurys is shrinking. It sounds wonky, but such action has historically been a warning signal that the bond market sees potentially tougher economic times ahead. As inflation worries increase, this is not the time to take on more debt.  Federal:
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Public Affairs Issue Forums: Chamber members are invited to two final forums to finish out the year.
Read more updates in our weekly Chamber Advocacy Update Looking to do business with a veteran-owned business? Here’s a by-the-numbers look at this year’s largest Twin Cities Veteran-Owned Business List. How residents, business owners and elected officials are reimagining the corner of Rice and Larpenteur. Funded by a 5-year, $19.4M grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, joint UofM and Mayo center to focus on studying racism’s impact on cardiovascular health in Minnesota. U.S. Bank survey: Black consumers say they’re better off than pre-pandemic, but skeptical wealth gaps will shrink. Don’t be afraid of the tough conversations: does your company suffer from toxic positivity? The passage of the $1.2T federal infrastructure bill will translate to $5.6B over five years for Minnesota’s transportation network.
St. Paul commercial and industrial permits down in October. Permits were down about 28% from October 2020, and off 67% from 2019. After 4 years, first-time developer JO Companies will launch 62-unit apartment building at Payne and E 7th, in Saint Paul. M Health Fairview envisions a Community Health and Wellness Hub at the site of the former St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul. This has been a puzzling week, a difficult one. Despite our every effort, the rent control initiative was approved by St. Paul’s voters – those who showed up. Of the city’s 169,950 registered voters, 35% showed up, and 53% of them – or just over 31,000 people - voted to enact an ordinance that is so problematic I don’t have words. Already the City Council is scrambling, the current budget – which, by the way, includes an almost 7% property tax levy increase – is at risk. Not to mention open housing projects, which are on pause for the moment. And, if the newspaper is correct, some of those voters voted “yes” more against those (including your Chamber) who were supporting the “No” vote. Again, the us vs them ideology. My hope? Is that together we commit to addressing the real issue: more supply of affordable housing – now with our hands tied behind our backs. All the challenges aside, my eyes look forward to Thursday of this week, November 11, Veterans Day. No matter our disagreement on policy, our differing approaches to shared priorities, we can be united in our support of our veterans. This holiday started as a day to reflect upon the heroism of those who died in our country’s service and originally was called Armistice Day. Nov 11 is important because it is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. In 1954, the holiday was changed to “Veterans Day” to honor all veterans in all wars. I know this is a challenging season; please, for a moment, pause and come together to honor our veterans. Perhaps we can come together on other priorities ahead as well. See you in the trenches. B  OSHA announces a new Emergency Temporary Standard on Vaccination and Testing: requires covered businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure every worker is fully vaccinated-with paid time to get vaccine-unless they require unvaccinated employees to undergo weekly testing and wear face coverings. Check out USDOL's weekly newsletter for more information. USDOL Newsletter. Biden administration announces Jan. 4 deadline for complying with the mandate and Minnesota employers scramble in response. For more details, here are a few resources:
Update on vaccinations:
 COVID-19 continues to fade as dominant political issue as Americans focus on inflation, economy. That recovery is hindered by Supply Constraints. And, as we’ve noted in previous blogs, the labor market is the new barometer for interest rate changes: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated this last week after the central bank's policy-setting committee meeting. Despite concerns about inflation, the Fed isn't entertaining interest rate increases until the job situation improves and the economy reaches maximum employment. Powell still won't say what "maximum employment" means to the Fed right now. There's "room for a whole lot of humility," he said, thinking about what maximum employment looks like in a post-COVID world, but there are early signs that the labor market is on the upswing. Pay and income losses are on the decline, and more people are getting back into the labor market, according to Morning Consult employment data. Leisure and hospitality workers, especially, saw pay and income loss fall throughout October, despite a small increase at the end of the month. There might be a light at the end of the tunnel for labor force participation as well. As back-to-work policies start solidifying, increased certainty for workers is driving them back to the workforce. More details here: Fading Uncertainty Drives October Job Growth. Economists largely expect prices to continue rising — as do consumers. Our next inflation gauge, the Consumer Price Index, comes out Wednesday. Update on the Build Back Better Regional Challenge: the EDA announced last week that 529 regions from all 50 states and five territories have submitted applications for Phase 1 of the $1 billion challenge. To find a list of applicants and to read Assistant Secretary Alejandra Y. Castillo’s letter to them, please click here. For more information about the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, visit: https://eda.gov/arpa/build-back-better/  Federal:
State:
Regional:
Public Affairs Issue Forums: announcing two new forums to finish out the year:
Read more updates in our weekly Chamber Advocacy Update In the aftermath of a very challenging week, it’s a pleasure to talk about upcoming holiday activities:
Talent scarcity demands better talent decisions: Tips on how to do it. Building a more diverse workforce is a great place to start as you think about building a more inclusive organization to help you achieve business goals. That said, diversity hiring is only the beginning. What else to consider? Of particular interest this week is a New York Times article on diversity and unions: Can Progress on Diversity Be Union-Made? Building an Equitable Future: A series of profiles of BIPOC developers in the Twin Cities U.S. downtown office-vacancy rate is as high as it's been since 1994.
Twin Cities developers, landlords prepare for the worst as rent control organizers celebrate. One final conversation on the proposed rent control on the ballot tomorrow, November 2. Not enough of our voice has been heard in terms of our concern for the most vulnerable renters: who will pay the price. It is this deep concern that keeps me driving against this initiative. As I said during our press conference on Friday, this is about us, as a community. I’ve seen messaging intending to create an artificial divide between community and business. “Good guys” vs the “bad guys.” This is neither helpful nor accurate. We all live in a community, raise our kids, care for our parents, pay our taxes. And we go to work. One neighbor rents to college students. Another neighbor works for a nonprofit housing developer. A third is still working on financing for an affordable housing project on the East Side. All those neighbors will be catastrophically impacted by the passing of this ballot initiative. This ballot Initiative was not developed In Community. It was not vetted by partners, we have no economic analysis based on Saint Paul, and it does not consider market forces. In fact, some who signed on initially, upon reading the actual language, now are quite vocal in their opposition. This is the right question, wrong solution. And the decision will be made by those who show up. The price paid by those most vulnerable, both today AND tomorrow. I urge you to vote on Tuesday, and Vote No on St. Paul Question 1. Joe Spencer of the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance wrote a piece for the Pioneer Press last Friday as well. Is worth a read. See you in the trenches. B  COVID shots for kids could start soon in Minnesota. Here’s what you need to know. Still waiting on OSHA: October has been a roller coaster ride for employers. Federal employers and contractors began putting the wheels in motion to ensure employees are vaccinated in compliance with the guidance issued by the Federal Workforce Taskforce in late September. Other large employers are on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if OSHA will follow their lead. We continued to see more resignations, strikes, and other employee movement as employers are trying to piece together budgets and plan for what next year will look like. We’re tracking this daily.  Minnesota job vacancies hit record high in Q2. This along with nationwide U.S. jobless claims dropping to pandemic low of 281,000.And consumer sentiment sinks despite progress against the Delta variant. Inflation replaces COVID-19 as chief concern among many small business owners. The biggest source of revenue for the climate and economic spending package that White House officials released Thursday are an investment in the Internal Revenue Service enforcement, a minimum tax on large corporations and a hike on the rate that U.S. multinational companies pay on foreign profits. The provisions that didn't make the final proposal include higher taxes on corporations, high earners and millionaire investors, a "billionaires' tax," and additional IRS bank reporting requirements. Tax Foundation Report: Minnesota has 5th worst state business tax climate. And we have held that rank since at least 2019. Corporate tax rank is the 6th highest at 9.8%, and individual income tax rate is 5th highest with its highest top income rate at 9.85%. Last week, the GREATER MSP Partnership submitted its application to compete for up to $100 million in the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) $1 billion Build Back Better Challenge. The competitive grants awarded through the Challenge, which is part of the American Rescue Plan, are designed to accelerate economic recovery from the COVID pandemic and to create industry clusters that will be resilient to future economic shocks. The Partnership’s proposal is centered on accelerating growth of the bio-innovation industry cluster in Minnesota. Regional coalitions across the country submitted proposals in Phase I of the Challenge. That was just the first step in the process. In December, 50-60 of those coalitions will be invited to advance to the next step in the application process and will be awarded up to $500,000 in technical assistance to further develop regional projects. Phase II of the application process includes providing substantiating information on specific projects within the identified cluster by March 2022. The anticipation is that 20-30 regions across the country will be awarded $25-100 million to implement projects designed to build and scale industry clusters that create transformational economic change. Look for more information in December, when we find out whether our region made it to Phase II.  Federal: In Washington, the Democrats still don’t really have a deal, but President Joe Biden says they have th“framework” of a deal. He had hoped to have a legislative victory before leaving for his overseas trip, but more votes still needed. READ MORE. Ultimately, what matters is the b ill’s substance. And if Congress passes anything resembling the legislative framework that Biden announced yesterday, it will be highly consequential. State: Rep Alice Hausman, a 32-year representative for District 66A in the East Metro, is retiring in 2022. In the face of redistricting, “it’s helpful to get a fresh start when you have new lines,” said Hausman. Regional:
Work in downtown Saint Paul or currently teleworking? Take a quick survey for a chance to win a gift card! The City of Saint Paul and Move Minnesota are teaming up to better understand your transportation patterns and preferences and develop modern policies and projects to support your evolving transportation needs. Read more updates in our weekly Chamber Advocacy Update. Congratulations to the MSPBJ’s 2021 Fastest-Growing Private Companies! Special shout-out to Doran Companies, Stonebridge Capital Advisors, and WSB! It is time to nominate rising leaders for the Minnesota and Harvard Business School Young American Leaders Program (MYALP and YALP)! As you may recall, the Itasca Project and GREATER MSP have sent cohorts of ten rising leaders to Harvard Business School for YALP since 2015. The two programs share themes, content and some speakers. Both focus on US and regional competitiveness, shared prosperity, and cross-sector collaborations; both programs seek to create relationships among rising leaders. Nominees from the Minneapolis-St Paul region are eligible to attend either HBS YALP or MYALP. We will ask the nominees which program they prefer, so you can nominate them without designating one. MYALP will be held May 18-20, 2022 and HBS YALP will be held in June 2022 (dates will be confirmed soon; in the past, it has been held the second or third week in June). There is no cost to participants to attend either program. Nominations are due November 12th. Please nominate individuals using this form. Find out what’s going on with your Chamber on our Events Calendar! Cap off a year of equity leadership programming with our Equity Summit on Nov 9. And, yes, save the date on December 9 for our annual Holiday Open House – this year is our turn to thank the restaurants! The changing work culture is a shift as big as the Industrial Revolution. In fact, many have called this current shift the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a label first used by Klaus Schwab in 2016 to describe the rapid advancement of technology into human knowledge work. Future-of-work strategist Heather McGowan speaks on How to prepare your people and organizations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Chasing opportunity: what shapes the chances we get in our lifetimes? Our economy, wrote Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari in 2020, “is afflicted by glaring distributional inequalities and appears unable to provide opportunities for those in need of them.” Absolutely a must-read about the elusiveness of “equality of opportunity.” Experts say racial wealth disparities are an economic drag that must be confronted. “Racism and the Economy” event focuses on causes of chronic wealth gaps and how to close them. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota lists recipients for $1.2M grant project, to increase access to health care across Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz and the state’s economic development leaders intend to get more aggressive about pitching Minnesota as a place to start and grow business. On Wednesday, they unveiled a new website, www.JoinUs.com, making the case for building business in Minnesota with information on key industries, talent, and quality of life. The platform is founded on Minnesota's long history of building things that matter. Minnesotans have pioneered open heart surgery and supercomputing, invented in-ear hearing aids and the pacemaker, and we've created such innovations as the concrete grain elevator, post-it notes, and water-skiing.
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