Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Sam Goldman Speaks

Mayoral candidate Sam Goldman spoke with Jennifer Fuller this morning regarding his candidacy. Some interesting points emerged during the interview:

Goldman believes he brings three things to the position: temperament, expertise in management and a vision for Carbondale, though he didn't want to say what that vision was.

However, from the conversation, it appears Southern Illinois Health Care plays a big part in his vision of Carbondale's future. He pointed out only SIUC employs more people than SI Health Care does and pledged his office would work closely with the organizaiton to expand Carbondale's position as a medical hub.

He wants Carbondale to rely less upon SIUC as its economic engine, commenting he would rather have it said "As Carbondale goes, so goes the university," than the other way around, as is common today.

He doesn't appear a big fan of comprehensive plans, either Southern at 150 or the recent one adopted by the city council, as they slow down the response of the community to changes and opportunities. Rather, he would take a more flexible position, working to encourage entrepreneurs within the community and a more entrepreneurial spirit withing city government. He does seem to like the words "entrepreneur" and "entrepreneural", using them half a dozen times at least during the course of the interview.

2 comments:

  1. Your tone on this posts sounds like you don't like the word "entrepreneur". As an entrepreneur yourself, why not?

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  2. Picked up on that, did you? Yes I am one and for every success story, every me, every Mark Zuckerman, Bill Games, Steve Jobs, etc that success that are hundreds that fail. Most entrepreneurs are not good managers. They excel at coming up with ideas, getting others excited and launching them but tend to be lousy at running companies for the long term. Most successful entrepreneurs eventually find their company is getting out of their control and have to bring in competent management to keep it going.

    I want a good manager running Carbondale one who is wiling to listen to new ideas but who is also willing to kill those that have little chance of succeeding. I don't want an entrepreneur who comes in and tries to remake city structure along their (possibly very good) ideas. I've tried that in an already existing organization and all you'll getis resistance from city staff.

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