Cookie cutter. There’s an interesting term. If you’re reading this at break time, you might be thinking of a sweet home-made snack. Childhood memories of pressing those familiar little metal shapes into rolled-out cookie dough. Stamping out one after another, a dozen at a time. In a baking – and eating – context, it’s a pleasant thought. You might be surprised to find, as I was, that ‘cookie cutter’ as a descriptor makes its way into several of our feature articles this month. And not as a sought-after solution.
“So the performance need for some of the demand that’s out there is not your cookie cutter home,” Elk Creek Forest Products.
“I went out on my own and decided to bring my own creative flare, instead of adding more cookie cutter houses,” Stonehenge Classic Homes.
“What sets us apart is we don’t come into these situations with a cookie cutter mentality,” KLJ Engineering.
Over the last year of hell due to COVID-19, climate change, and challenging economic factors, businesses and communities have been deep diving into the inner sanctum… adapting and pivoting, master planning and strategizing. They’ve come to realize that people today are no longer satisfied with a run-of-the-mill answer. They crave innovation and creativity and smart, next-level thinking. Whether it’s a state that has had to rethink its power infrastructure, or a developer bringing ‘something different’ and exceptional to the market, or a university training the workforce of the future, it’s about moving away from the same old repetitive model that matters going forward.
Worth a pause for thought… how much does ‘cookie cutter’ come into play in your world?
This month’s Business View North America showcases prime examples of visionary thinking. In the realm of sustainable manufacturing, Maibec, Appalachian Flooring, Elk Creek Forest Products, and Bois BSL are leaders in the forest sector. Meanwhile, nostalgia meets progress at the popular Nut Tree Airport and the retro/renewal vibe continues at Fort Worth Convention Center & Will Rogers Memorial Center. Tech-wise, Instafuel shares their ingenuous sort of ‘Uber gas’ mobile fuel delivery service, and KLJ shares their successful people-centric culture.
In Business View Civil & Municipal, we travel to 10 resilient and remarkable communities with notable pasts and well-designed plans for future growth based on public input. Our cross-country and cross-border tours go from historic Newburyport, MA to reinvented McKeesport, PA to the home of Santa’s Village in Bracebridge, Ontario through Winkler, Manitoba and all the way to Fillmore. California, with many other fascinating stops along the way.
Spring is in the air, my friends. Enjoy the season and the read!
Editor in Chief
Lorie Lee Steiner
