Imagine the New American City. What do you see? What are people doing? What are you doing? Who is with you? How does it feel? Take time now to jot down a few notes in answer to these questions.

Political pundits are lamenting low voter turnout in societal elections. There may not be so much to worry about. The fact that democracy in this arena seems a bit sleepy doesn’t necessarily translate to a lack of interest in democracy. Low engagement could come from the fact that our societal democracy simply deals with questions too large to be dealt with in any intimacy.

Many organizations work hard at making a profit, and then do all kinds of things, completely unrelated to their mission, to make a difference. Why?

Roger Martin’s latest book, The Design of Business clearly demonstrates how design is an answer to a fundamental gap in most organizations. That gap is the oft-neglected vacuum in innovation.

I love the question visionary designer Bruce Mau puts to us: if we can design anything, do anything, what should we do?