The Next Big Thing

With all of this year’s happenings and stress, the time to figure out your next big move for your business, career, and life is now. Shifts in public opinion and practices have changed how we view the world.

Rather than identify prospective trends, BlackEnterprise.com highlights what we see as the next big ideas shaping some of our core coverage areas. Along with Black Enterprise magazine, we’ve selected concepts influencing business, money management, health, technology, careers, and lifestyle. We share examples of how some people profit from global markets, and transform themselves both personally and professionally; in addition to how others embrace risk and apply technology to bolster each facet of their lives.

Our goal is simple: to keep you, our readers, ahead of the curve. By presenting a snapshot of how individuals and enterprises are changing lives and redefining business, we are positioning you to take advantage of the next big thing before it becomes the next big thing.
– Chana Garcia

COLLECTIVE CREATIVITY

Corporate Collaboration

At Lockheed Martin Electronics Systems in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the priorities is engaging employees so that they are up to speed as the military-defense manufacturer forges into new markets. In-house publications, forums, and hourly online chats are just some of the ways Lockheed lets workers know it’s paying attention. It is also a way for corporate leaders to maximize and harness the creative talents and resources of their staff.

Held once a month, the online chats allow employees to “bring their ideas forward and get real-time feedback,” says Stephanie Hill, vice president of programs and site operations of the company’s MS2 Maritime Security and Ship Systems line of business. Hill’s department brings in $259 million annually and comprises 730 employees in 28 countries.

“Employees need to know that they are being heard and that we are acting on the things that they share,” Hill says. “In order to grow we have to have a workforce that feels valued and is happy with what they are doing.”

Organizations benefit when people come together to work collectively on defining and solving problems and developing new ideas. Corporate leaders like Hill are encouraging their staff to share their ideas through internal channels and to work through challenges as a team. Top managers who measure their effectiveness by how motivated and engaged their staffs are realize that the result is innovative products produced on time and within budget.

Investing

Collective investing is nothing new, but a recent phenomenon is taking a cue from social-networking Websites, with the upshot of Web-based services predicated on sharing information about trades and stocks.

Social stock picking via the Internet has its caveats, experts warn, namely that group members are not licensed financial experts or analysts and that past performance is not an indicator of future success.

But make no mistake about it, technology is transforming money and investing like no other time in modern history. Web 2.0 is about collective intelligence and so, too, is Wall Street.

A prime example is Cakefinancial.com, which lets you compare your stock picks with other investors in the community. The San Francisco-based firm identifies users whose portfolios are doing well, highlighting their transactions as they happen. One of its byproducts is the CakeTake, a rating service akin to Morningstar Inc., which uses algorithms and leverages historical stock investment data for up to 10 years.

There’s also the CakeDex index fund, which is based on the holdings of the community’s top 10% of investors, and CakeScout, an investment-idea engine. In the works for 2009 is the CakeDex ETF, and exchange-traded fund that will be an index fund made up of the top 100 holdings of the top-performing investors on Cake Financial.

Small Business

For City Living Home Furnishings, collective collaboration occurs from the bottom up. Designers and sales reps meet weekly, but the collective process also involves the say of delivery drivers, warehouse crew, and customer service representatives who have direct contact and feedback from consumers.

“Their input is coming from what they experience in their day-to-day work environment,” says Andre Dickens, owner and president. “They know how long it took to assemble a bedroom suite or if people are dissatisfied with their purchase.”

Before its build-out into two showrooms and a warehouse, City Living got its start in 2002 as an Internet storefront. Taking advantage of a housing boom and new homeowners, Dickens, 34, a chemical engineer by trade, and Kesha Kline, 34, an interior designer, came up with the idea to sell contemporary furniture and concepts for living spaces by laying out designs and styles online– in essence, interactive interior design.
Not only were start-up costs about 5% of what it normally takes to build a store ($30,000 versus $750,000), it gave Dickens and Kline a greater sense of what customers wanted, avoiding excess inventory.

It’s clear that the Web is no longer just window dressing for companies. The integration of the Internet and enterprise has innovators thinking differently about human interaction.

–Carolyn M. Brown

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Lifestyle

If you’re trying to reduce your carbon footprint by eating locally grown food and supporting neighborhood eateries, you’re not alone. Consumers nationwide have caught the fresh-food bug and are flocking to corner eateries, buying produce at farmers’ markets, and encouraging their local supermarkets to stock produce and meats grown and produced nearby. And restaurants are jumping on the bandwagon, too.

Restaurants from foodie favorite Table 8, helmed by celebrity chef Govind Armstrong to Baltimore’s vegan-friendly Yabba Pot Cafe are providing their patrons with food that’s pesticide- and hormone-free. Armstrong, named greenest restaurateur in the February 2007 issue of Black Enterprise, has locations in Los Angeles and Miami, and he’ll soon unveil his latest spot in New York City. The restaurant’s menus change seasonally so that customers can enjoy the freshest regionally grown produce and locally produced meat.

Skai Davis, chef and owner of Yabba Pot, not only grows her own vegetables but

also works with an African American supplier who provides her with produce grown in Maryland. And the restaurant’s baked goods are prepared by two African American-owned vegan bakeries in Baltimore. “Buying local has so many benefits,” enthuses Davis. “I get great deals, and I feel like I’m really supporting vendors in the community. More importantly, I’m able to provide my customers with fresh foods that weren’t flown in from the other side of the country.”

With the increase in oil prices and growing concerns over contaminated produce, buying local makes sense. In addition, supporting local restaurants and farmers contributes to the economic well-being of your community. “Buying local can be more expensive,” Davis says. “But the benefits are worth it.”

Small Business

Picture this: a mixed-income, environmentally friendly condominium that boasts air filters, energy from 25% renewable sources, a health club, on-site Zipcars, green roofs, landscaped public courtyards, and a movie theater targeting the African American and Hispanic markets–and in Harlem, no less. The Kalahari Condominium is just one of several projects headed by New York-City based real estate developers Carlton Brown and Walter Edwards.

“We had a vision of rebuilding in historically black communities in a way that took the needs of the community into account,” says Brown, who along with Edwards, founded the development company Full Spectrum in 1988. “We wanted to provide housing that was green and socially equitable.”

Their first projects included town homes in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Edwards notes that when they bought the lots for development in Brooklyn, the city of New York wanted them to build homes that were dark and narrow. Instead, the pair conceived of a way to build homes that were only a few feet wider but gave the appearance of being spacious and airy. “We think of ourselves as problem solvers,” Edwards says. “When we begin a project, we factor in environmental, economic, social, and cultural issues. We’re all about human sustainability.”

In addition to the Kalahari project, Brown and Edwards are excited about their newest venture, Full Spectrum South in Jackson, Mississippi. The duo also has projects in the works in the Bronx, Trenton, New Jersey, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. “We believe in creating eco-friendly housing where professionals and working-class folks can live side by side,” Edward says. “This way, both the judge and the janitor can build equity, which can be passed on to the next generation.” Human sustainability indeed.

Corporate Citizenship

Smart CEOs know there’s more to corporate social responsibility than placing recycling bins in the corner copy room. Today, major corporations and nonprofits are making a real difference in the communities–and countries–in which they do business. While their motives are partly altruistic, corporations from General Motors to McDonald’s realize that corporate citizenship contributes to the bottom line. After all, consumers are attracted to companies that care about their workers and give back to the community.

For the past six years, Hope Masters, CEO of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation,

has lobbied corporations here and abroad to adhere to the Global Sullivan Principles, which encourage companies to support economic, social, and political justice where they do business. As of this year, 400 major corporations have endorsed them. “The importance of the principles really hit home when I visited a factory in Tanzania,” Sullivan says. “The women were working in a heat-filled room with no fan, a dirty lavatory, and they were housed in squalid conditions. I asked the manager why there were no Tanzanian women in management and he said, ‘You have to have a brain for that.’ It was truly unacceptable.”

For more than 30 years, the mission of the nonprofit South Bronx Overall Development Corp. (SoBRO) has been the revitalization of the much-maligned South Bronx. SoBRO creates affordable housing, transforms abandoned industrial zones into neighborhoods, and provides programs for aspiring business owners and at-risk teens. Phillip Morrow, president and CEO, says the Bronx, once written off as a dead zone, is set to become a thriving borough once again. “SoBRO’s mission is to make the Bronx a place where low- and middle-income New Yorkers can raise families, create businesses, and own their own homes,” Morrow says. “And in the process, we’re attracting new businesses, improving the quality of life for the people in these neighborhoods, and creating jobs.”

–Siobhan Leftwich

SIGNATURE EXPERIENCE

Lifestyle

For travelers, it’s less about where you go, but creating an elite experience while you’re there.

Imagine the following: An after-hours dinner with white-glove service in a Berlin cathedral. Gliding through the Mediterranean on a private yacht with a chef from Tuscany. Elephant trekking through the mountains of Thailand or island hopping in the Seychelles.

Agents at the appropriately named Elite Luxury Travel specialize in these types of vacations. Their philosophy is that any time clients arrive at a hotel, they should be treated like royalty. That could mean champagne and chocolates waiting in your room or being greeted by the general manager upon your arrival.

“People want bragging rights when they come back, and now it’s much easier to travel around the world,” says Gregory Schwab, president of Elite.

Larry Martin, president of Food and Wine Trails, says his California-based company is the oldest of its kind in the country. For enthusiasts who want a trip off of the radar, Martin takes groups through the back hills of Côte de Provence in France for the “most incredible wineries and restaurants in Europe.”

When planning a trip around food and wine, he says, two things make a difference–experience and connections. His decades-long relationships with farmers, winemakers, and chefs give passionate travelers amazing access.

“I’ll take you to a winery on top of a hill in Tuscany or Napa with a winery owner pouring his best vintage and talking about his land,” Martin says. “This gives you a window not only to his life but the environment that you’re sitting in. You get a sense of privilege and seeing things that most people would never be able to see.”
And to Martin, that’s a wow experience.

Shop Smart

The holidays can lead to head scratching over what gifts to give those you love, especially if you’re shopping for someone who has everything or possesses unique tastes.

Think about giving a gift experience tailored to the recipient’s tastes. Ivy Welburn has a career in being a virtual Santa Claus. Her company, Fleur Couture, handles personal shopping for celebrities. That can mean buying dozens of gifts for people at Christmastime, but her tips on creating custom gifts are perfect even if you’re buying just a few items.

Welburn looks for antique trunks and fills them with fruit and flowers. For last-minute gifts (she’s on call for celebrities who routinely need something in a haste), she has backpacks or sneakers airbrushed or embroidered, puts a gift card in a pretty picture frame, or finds a one-of-a-kind container that will keep long after the gift is used.
What she’s seeing is that people really want to show that thought went into their gift. “People love flowers on gifts,” she says. “I never use a bow. I try to stay away from anything expected.”

For Welburn, who used to design floral arrangements, presentation is just as important as what’s inside the package. She’s decorated packages with clip-on earrings or broaches and loves using fabrics such as vinyl for wrapping paper. Anything that’s pretty and unusual.

Feel-good gifts are popular, too. A journal, bookends, a throw blanket, and hot cocoa mix, all packaged beautifully, are a warm and inviting way to chase away the winter chills.

“Everything needs to be an experience, no matter how small,” she says.

Small Business

Cynika Drake identified a lacking area for busy professionals and started Lavish Lifestyles, a concierge service that arranges romantic experiences for you and your significant other based on your personality, tastes, and budget. She breaks up the monotony of dinner-and-a-movie dates.

For an annual fee of $1,200, Lavish Lifestyles will plan outings to save time and hassle. “Most clients come to me because they want to do something special but don’t have the time to plan or know what to do,” says Drake, who travels between New York and Los Angeles.

Her company offers hands-on service in not only planning romantic experiences, but also on-site parties and galas. Couples can even have arrangements made for an intimate gathering to be set up in the privacy of their homes.

Drake has planned luxury spa trips that include a car and driver and flights over a beach before a romantic dinner. One of the more memorable rendezvous she orchestrated was having a 1963 Rolls Royce pick up a couple and take them to a 1930s open cockpit biplane. The couple enjoyed a sunset aerial view of Malibu, California and had a candlelit dinner for two at a local Italian restaurant.

–Natalie Y. Moore