Forbes recently made the decision to put Detroit on the cover of a feature discussing the Best Places for Business in America. Quite an honor. It’s nice to see this kind of coverage of Detroit in such a major print publication– under the guidance of such a powerful claim nonetheless. I think it will be interesting to see what kind of pinballing occurs in the media over thi. Certainly it will be easy for other outlets to play Devil’s Advocate on this one and call Forbes’ out for taking a relatively risky stance with a city that so many have dismissed. That being said, my gut says that when Forbes is taking the road less traveled with such a powerful position, other media hubs are going to want to at least delve a little deeper and explore the idea that maybe there is something rooted in the Detroit story. Chances are they too will want to march in and report the same story but in a “different” way. What that results in will be interesting to see unfold. More positive press about the future of business in Detroit? An increase in angel investors and the venture capital community? Increased investor confidence in the viability of the city to house new ventures? Or, hey, just increased confidence from the general public that the cracks in the Detroit system reveal opportunities?

We’ll see. Any of those would be miniature victories in my book.

For now, the Forbes coverage provides a wealth of really interesting interviews and opinions as it relates to the forward movements of the city. The writer responsible for much of the content, Forbes’ Joann Muller, has amassed an incredible amount of content with interviews and analysis that really gives you something to dive in to. She talks about the city with a wide range of people– business leaders, auto execs, members of the foundation community, political officials and lots more. The result is a fairly dynamic approach to understanding the current state of affairs in the city. All this insight can be found via multiple articles she wrote:

1) Saving Detroit: The Conversation

2) Gov. Rick Snyder: How We’re Re-inventing Michigan

3) Detroit: Urban Legend

One step further, there are a bunch of video interviews done by Muller covering a range of topics– the education system, the future of the city, the state of our industrial decline, and the nature of entrepreneurial opportunity that now exists. These interviews are available below:

Man! Lot’s to soak in there– kind of like an unreasonably lengthy homework assignment. It will be interesting to see what kinds of momentum is gained from all this coverage as Detroit pushes onward.