Welcome to the view from inside the West Coast Chamber. Keeping you on the leading edge of business innovations, trends, and best practices. Keeping you in the know about what's happening in the West Michigan business community.
New research from New American Economy finds that immigrants contribute $2.1 billion in state and local taxes and hold $18.4 billion in spending power. On February 27, 2020 a coalition of business and industry leaders came together at the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce to launch the Michigan Compact on Immigration, a set of key principles…
Read More
There are many ways to champion a community, ranging from creating and supporting economic opportunities for businesses, to raising awareness and discussion of key community issues, to developing the next generation of leaders within the community. As the connective tissue that unites businesses, nonprofits and the public sector, the West Coast Chamber is uniquely positioned…
Read More
At some point in all of our professional lives, we will be called upon to stand up in front of a group of people to deliver a presentation. We’ve all sat through enough uninspiring presentations to know what not to do, but how can we ensure that OUR presentations don’t fall into that category? With…
Read More
Recently I came upon this quote, “The new year stands before us like a blank chapter in a book, just waiting to be written. We can help write that story by writing goals.” This stuck in my head because it requires the collaboration of right and left brain in equal parts. The creativity of the…
Read More
As the year draws to a close, we bid farewell to Emily Hostetler. You may know her as the gifted person behind the camera, who takes phenomenal photos and always has a smile. She leaves us to return to school to become a teacher, which is a blessing to children throughout the area. She jumped…
Read More
This week’s blog comes from Ryan Kilpatrick, Executive Director of Housing Next. Long considered the unwanted neighborhood step-child, homes with an extra dwelling unit offer an extraordinary opportunity to make a significant difference in the availability of housing throughout West Michigan and to build wealth for young entrepreneurs through local investments. All we have to…
Read More
The short answer for any leader working in an EOS® company is – Yes. But these two words are not equal, and two leadership gurus I respect have pulled me both ways. Patrick Lencioni included Accountability as layer number four in the pyramid made famous in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Seth Godin muddied the…
Read More
When you are looking for more information on a business, a product, a vacation or even a celebrity whose name you can’t remember, where’s the first place you go? The quick answer to that question is, of course, “online”. But that no longer tells the full story. Online can mean Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,…
Read More
It’s no secret that employers in our area, and throughout the country for that matter, are finding it increasingly difficult to find enough candidates with the appropriate skills needed to fill open positions. One solution lies in exposing students to the vast array of careers available and helping them find the pathway to success in…
Read More
October has been a busy month for Advocacy in Action. Between our Public Policy Committee Meeting and our Governmental Affairs Breakfast, we discussed topics from our state’s water systems, to mass transportation options to those darn roads. Both of those events also included reports from our elected officials, with a focus on the state of…
Read More