The future is being written in California

John Elkington

October 26, 2009

Shortly after we included the State of California in our Phoenix 50, it ran into deep financial problems. But in choosing the Golden State, we were both following the voting patterns of the entrepreneurs we had polled – and basing our ultimate judgement on California’s extraordinary 160-year history. As I flew to Adelaide from Singapore last night, I was fascinated to read Michael Grunwald’s article ‘The End of California? Dream On!’ in the latest issue of Time. “In the depths of the breakdown,” says one interviewee, “you can see the next narrative.” And that’s pretty much what we were saying in The Phoenix Economy.