Detroit is best known as the birthplace of the modern automobile, Motown, and Coney Island, but that’s not all the city’s given to the world. There is more to Detroit than meets the eye. The city is full of entrepreneurship, reimagining, and reinventing after the 2008 financial crisis. The purpose of this episode is to help leaders within their own organizations understand that there is potential to change the narrative, and the change starts with one person’s drive and desire to see that potential.
This week we welcome on the podcast, John Gallagher, an expert on all things Detroit. For more than three decades, John covered urban and economic events with Detroit Free Press. John is also an accomplished author, having written six books. His most recent book was released into the world on March 30, 2021. The Englishman and Detroit tells the story of the resurgence of entrepreneurship in Detroit in the past 20 years with details never before reported.
On today’s show, we talk about the process of writing a book, the biggest lesson that John learned from money, and the transformation Detroit has made to become a tech hub. Listeners will be introduced to Randal Charlton, a remarkable Brit who founded the Asterand bio-medical startup in Detroit in 2000 and went on to serve as director of TechTown. He was among the first to promote the idea that Detroit could rebuild its confidence through entrepreneurship. We hope this podcast inspires you to emerge from any tragic event bigger and better than ever.
Keywords: Detroit, people, book, money, entrepreneurship, years, city, Michigan, began, interview, downtown, questions, start up, covering, reinventing, town, tech, business, interesting, economic.
A Review on The Englishman and Detroit. As the recession slowly unfolded, Detroit’s small business ecosystem had few real solutions. Randal Charlton was an advocate who pushed me to think bigger, to expand my relationships, and to embrace endless possibilities for renewal. During the worst of times, he was an assuring presence.” -Carla Walker-Miller, Founder and CEO, Walker-Miller Energy Services.
Meet John. John Gallagher is a veteran journalist and author whose 2010 book Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City was named by the Huffington Post among the best social and political books of the year. Born in New York City, he attended DePaul University in Chicago and Columbia University in New York. Joining the Detroit Free Press in 1987 as the paper’s urban affairs and economic development writer, John became a leading interpreter of the saga of post-industrial cities and their recovery efforts. He retired from the Free Press at the end of 2019 but continues to write and speak about a range of issues including labor, economics, architecture, urban planning, and media.