Dixie is undergoing the greatest Reconstruction since the American Civil War. Katrina will be remembered as nature's answer to Sherman's march to the sea. Other storms now threaten - Rita among those. The cities these disasters touch are changed, sometimes forever.

Cities are unique. Many have a distinct character all their own - even small towns. To illustrate, a few from among the famous American ones: New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and a list of many more well known cities and lesser known ones. The list is legion.

Three college towns come to mind - Boston, Massachusetts; Saratoga Springs, New York; and Shepherdstown, West Virginia. At one time or another, I lived and worked in each.

Certainly other things were going on in a place that is town-and-gown, but a significant student population creates a unique business infrastructure.

Jim Heskett, of the Harvard Business School, authored an interesting piece entitled, "What are the lessons of New Orleans." In his opening, Professor Heskett poses an important question,

There will be an endless number of post-mortems concerning the tragedies that befell the residents of New Orleans last week. More important are the actions, if any, which may result from them. In this regard, can lessons learned in the private sector be brought to bear in minimizing the suffering and damage from inevitable future calamities?

Professor Heskett invited responses and I answered, in part:

...there is a deeper lesson and that is one of investment to prevent disasters in the first place. A large firm is well aware of the human capital and material assets within the perimeters of its fences. It does not take long for the finance committee to run a return-on-investment analysis of operating safely or know that safeguards are part of the cost of doing business, and that industry has a moral responsibility to those who work on-site. There was a saying at [DuPont]: "You are safer inside the plant gates than outside."