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“Military Retirement” study garners major media coverage

Our Best Cities for Military Retirement and Second Careers study is a making a big splash in the media.  The team at Fleishman-Hillard PR orchestrated a great campaign for our USAA-sponsored study.

A big front-page above-the-fold feature in USA Today:  Job-Seeking Veterans.

Forbes.com featured a two-page story and a slide show, and the American Morning show on CNN spent over four minutes discussing our results.

Articles on news sites across the country:

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Military Retirement – Second Careers

Coinciding with Veteran’s Day, we just completed an interesting study about the best places in the U.S. for military retirees to start a second career.  Since most veterans retire from service in their 30’s or 40’s, they have plenty of time to start a new professional chapter in their lives.

source: allamericanpatriots.com

So what are the best places to enter the civilian job sector?  To help us find out, we partnered with USAA (a financial services provider) and Military.com (the largest military and veteran membership organization).  We looked at factors such as affordability, unemployment rate, prevalence of military skill related jobs, and number of veteran-owned businesses.  But we didn’t stop there.

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Manliest Cities

Where do America’s REAL men live?  “America’s Manliest Cities” is one of most entertaining studies I do, and it always seems to get a big reaction across the nation.  I’m not surprised - having one’s manhood appraised is definitely bound to start some spirited discussion!

This is the third year we’ve done the study, partnering with the good folks at Combos, the “official cheese-filled snack of NASCAR.”  (I’m not kidding.)

This year good ole’ Nashville, TN grabbed the top spot, and Charlotte, NC was runner-up.  In fact, all of the top 10 Manliest Cities were in the South or Midwest.  Must be all that macho stuff like country music, huntin’, and grillin’.

Actually, we did consider things like number of BBQ restaurants, as well as rodeos, sports events, and manly occupations.  Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg… there’s a lot more to the study.

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Sleepless Cities

The results of our newest study were released today on the CBS show, Sunday Morning.  Louisville, KY earned the top spot of Most Sleepless City, and Honolulu residents got the best rest in our study of insomnia.
(see the video clip on CBS)

Our new study ranks the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, home to fully half of the U.S. population.  The Sperling study analyzes over 400,000 responses from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (the world’s largest telephone survey, conducted annually by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and also considers factors contributing to poor sleep,
such as joblessness, divorce, and lengthy commuting.

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Visit at Oregon State University

I started the month of November with a full day of events at Oregon State University, in Corvallis.

I was invited there to be part of the Entrepreneurs in Residence Series, presented by the Austin Entrepreneurship Program which is part of OSU’s College of Business.

The highlight of the day was my speech at noon, at the beautiful facilities in the LaSells Stewart Center.  After a glowing introduction by Associate Dean Don Neubaum, I spoke for an hour about how I became an internationally-recognized thought leader and the lessons for anyone seeking to be successful in today’s complex web-connected world.

This represented a different topic from my usual talks about livability and quality of life, and my rankings of the best places to live.  Someone said what I do is interesting, but how I do it is important.
The title of the talk was, “Create Your Own Brand and Control Your Destiny.”

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Best Cities for Seniors

I just completed a really in-depth study on the best metro areas for seniors to live in.  Minneapolis came in first, with Boston and Pittsburgh rounding out the top three.  There’s an overview of the study here, with the top 25 cities:

2011 Best Cities for Seniors

We considered nine broad categories, each consisting of several specific measures:  Healthcare, Economy, Health & Longevity, Social Life, Environment, Spiritual Life, Housing, Transportation, and Crime.

Here you can download a PDF of the entire study, with all 50 cities ranked, as well as full methodology and detailed city writeups:

Best Cities for Seniors Full Study

In the PDF, we’ve even broken how cities scored in each of the individual categories.  For example, the #1 city for Environment was San Francisco, whereas the #1 city for Housing was Oklahoma City.

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Most Congested Cities

Some of the most rewarding and interesting studies I do deal with health issues.  Recently I was asked to find those U.S. cities that are most challenged by nasal congestion.  It’s a significant issue, as one in five Americans suffers from chronic nighttime nasal congestion.

We looked at a host of indicators, such as pollen and allergens as well as usage of OTC and prescription congestion drugs.

There’s a nice article on the NPR site here:  Most Congested Cities on NPR

And here’s the detailed official press release:  Most Congested Cities 2011

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Washington Post – DC Gains Urban Hipsters

I was asked by the Post to explain why the DC metro has suddenly gained so many 25-34 year olds.  According to the Census Bureau, DC is now right up there with hipster havens like Austin and Portland (Oregon).

DC Area Gains Young Adults

Reporter Carol Morello asked me, “Does this mean Washington is now ‘cool’?”

My answer was, “Umm, sorry, no.”  I explained, it’s a simple case of economics.  The DC area has had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. along large metro areas.  Young people are flocking to where the jobs are.

Bill Frey, of the Brookings Institution, also chimed in, agreeing that it’s the economy, but also stating that DC has a “certain vibe.”

My quote in the article spoke about each place has its own identity or brand, and Washington’s is one of government and power.  “I don’t know if you want your seat of government to be too cool and quirky.”

Sort of like, you don’t want to find out your heart surgeon also does stand-up comedy.