On the way into the office today, I was listening to an NPR series part, Michigan’s Hybrid Economy: Helping the Entrepreneurs, and a few things struck me. The first is the comment that the auto industry has continued to suck local investors dry.

“(Entrepreneur’s) main competitors to be honest are automotive based technologies, they’re going to be the big guys.”

It’s frustrating, though understandable, that most Detroit-area investors have sought out auto. Of course, auto has been Detroit’s golden goose, but really? Are we that resistant to change that investors are still drawn to the money pit Detroit auto has become? I’m absolutely all for helping out my hometown’s bread-and-butter, of course I have family deeply embedded, but diversification is an absolute necessity if not inevitable.

This recession provides time for innovation

I am so tired of bad news pertaining to the economy, especially here in metro Detroit. In financially stressed times, innovation is critical. Today, your customers are using different tools to research and purchase everything from books and electronics, to raw materials and machinery. For US retailers and manufacturers it is time to adapt or die.