At a time when many are talking about gratitude and blessings, I’m thinking often of innovation. We are currently in a time of forced innovation, which is truly remarkable to see. Amidst the uncertainty and the fear of COVID-19, we are rising to the occasion and coming up with solutions to help ourselves and each other.

Innovation as described by Webster’s Dictionary as “the introduction of something new; a new idea, method or device”. What Webster’s doesn’t tell you is how innovation is the backbone of your company and how crucial it is to embrace innovation to strive and compete among others in the business world.

I am continually impressed with our community’s ability to innovate and make their expertise available to the masses using technology, so that we can limit person-to-person contact for a bit longer. On page 12, we’ve rounded up a few unique local offerings—available virtually.

Innovation goes beyond business and technology. The local businesses we help are
indeed innovating, just as our readers are innovating how they live their lives. In this
issue, we’re innovating how we celebrate holidays (a video call to dad on Father’s Day), take vacations (stay local with “staycations”) and even approach human expansion
(curious about ayahuasca?).

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” In the dialogue
Republic, Greek philosopher Plato encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem. Though it can sometimes be scary, change and the need to innovate is actually the very nature of all life. It’s been a brand new challenge for all of us, but we’re making it work each in our own way.