Feb. 1, 2008 - I like having this problem

February 1, 2008

There are times, every now and then, when you just can't decide what to put on the cover of an issue.

It's not because you don't have anything good, mind you (OK, there have been times, though not here, when that's been the case, which caused me to seriously evaluate my meager professional qualifications.)

It's just that, every now and then, you have too many good topics and can't decide which one to spotlight.

What makes this confusion even more pronounced is when you have strong personal feelings regarding each.

Take this issue's first feature, Battle Royal, where we ask the question, which presidential candidate is best for business. I spent all of my high school and collegiate years studying politics, and I've been lucky enough to have covered it professionally a good number of years. Personally, I don't think anything is more important or vital to the nation than who our political leaders are. Yet I'm enraged when more attention is paid to Hillary's tears or Huckabee's religion than Edwards' corporate tax positions and McCain's health care platform.

That's why you will not find a more in-depth look at each candidate's positions on these and other issues vital to business than in Senior Writer Drew Ermenc's piece.

Cover worthy? Definitely.

So is Managing Editor Mike Pallerino's piece on diversity. What's ironic about this topic is that, while diversity has been around since the late 1990s, only now has it truly matured beyond its original limitations.

Diversity used to be about whether a company employed enough African Americans and women. Now – and this is a good thing – the concept has moved beyond its mere "token representation" beginnings to encompass lifestyles, personal faiths, and generational differences, as Managing Editor Mike Pallerino writes. To remain competitive, companies now are learning they must employ deeper, more substantive inclusiveness, and that such momentums must come from the top – the C suite – before they can become part of the company culture.

Diversity now must be part of a company's DNA. It is a new time for diversity in corporate America. As everyone knows (and as Thomas Friedman has made a million bucks off of), the world is getting flatter. Companies now have workforces all around the world. CEOs and executives not only have consider whether to give people off MLK Day, but also the entire month of Ramadan. This is true diversity, and only time will determine if those entities that have forcefully encouraged simple numerical representation in the past will embrace this new, truer form of diversity, into the future.

Cover worthy? You bet.

Then there's our piece on Atlanta's hotel market, written by freelancer Charles Molineaux. To me, the major issue facing the city's hotel, tourism and conventions business are panhandlers, and it's frustrating to continue seeing alleged "community leaders" defend the "rights" of the homeless to aggressively solicit money from passers-by. Molineaux writes our municipal leadership is aware of the problem, but as a husband and father, there is no way in the world I would ever visit a city with a national reputation for such behavior as ours. So we'll see if this notoriety grows or if business leaders continue pressing the city to take more aggressive action.

Cover worthy? No doubt.

So, which one makes the final cut? Obviously you know the answer, as Bank of America's Geri Thomas and the topic of diversity are highlighted, as it continues to rank at the top of business concerns and issues.

I hope we have this problem again, next month.