Gilbert, Crain's top newsmaker of 2006, speaks on region's assets and liabilities

Quicken Loan's Dan Gilbert, named Crain's Newsmaker of the Year for 2006, spoke last week at an Inforum breakfast about Southeast Michigan's regional assets as well as its liabilities. Assets: work ethic, entrepreneurship and its research universities. Liabilities: brain drain, victim mentality and bureaucracy resistant to change.

Excerpt:

Quicken has been successful because it has developed a corporate culture and philosophy that it defines itself by, and the company makes decisions based on its identity, Gilbert said. The region must develop a stronger identity for itself in order to make decisions that can help it move forward, he said.

“You’ve got to know who you are before you start talking about what it is you’re going to do,” Gilbert said.

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