It was announced on Tuesday that MillerCoors, a new joint venture of beer makers SAB Miller and Molson Coors, would setup their headquarters in Chicago. This will move employees from Denver and Milwaukee to the Windy City and in total bring in close to 400 jobs. The exact location of the office, to be opened within a year, has not been determined.

As the corporate executives make their plans to move to Chicago, I have one suggestion – make no little plans! These words are not my own but of Daniel Burnham, the world renowned urban planner responsible for the layout of much of what is Chicago today. I thought of this after my visit to the Tribune Tower last week, which is not only the headquarters of the Chicago media empire but a museum and tribute to journalism.

Most corporate offices are just that – offices. Why not make it a showcase of your products and services? Unfortunately, many of the corporate giants in Chicago haven’t incorporated this into their business model. Wrigley does not have a candy and gum store. Boeing has a store to buy logo schwag but no exhibits on its airplanes. Morton Salt could have an umbrella store. United Airlines, well… maybe they are a bad example as they don’t like their customers to begin with.

The only examples I could think of in Chicago are the Chicago Board of Trade’s viewing gallery, the Vienna Beef headquarters which has a cafe and store featuring its tasty foods, and the former Marshall Field’s which used to have a history gallery before they were acquired by Macy’s.

Such showcases don’t have to be merely cost centers – they can be profit centers, making money from visitors. MillerCoors could have a history museum, a working mini-brewery, an R&D facility open to the public and a restaurant. They could even borrow from Jordan’s Furniture in the Boston area which has everything from an IMAX theatre to motion-odyssey ride in its furniture stores. Anything else come to mind?

As much as another corporate headquarters in itself can have a positive impact on any community, making a big splash by offering something more and different to that very community can go a long way. Corporations don’t just have to write checks to participate. They can make their own things happen.

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Tomorrow I am starting what I hope to be a continuing series here at The Hot Iron called 6 Questions. The basic concept is where via an online conversation I ask someone 6 questions with my own twist to it.

One consistency in the questions will be the first and last ones. The first will always be, "who are you and what are you doing here?" borrowing liberally the famous line from Admiral James Stockdale. This will be followed by 4 questions. The last question will always be, "what question did I not ask and what is its answer?" and this can be anything.

Look for it tomorrow, and I look forward to your feedback on this concept.

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As someone asked me for a list of the domain name blogs I read, I thought it best to post it here on The Hot Iron, as others may be interested in them as well.

Here they are, in domain name alphabetic order:

CircleID - Very thorough discussion on Internet infrastructure including domain names
Conceptualist.com - By Sahar Sarid, a great blog by a domainer and founder of Bido.com, as well as great insight into business and entrepreneurship
Daily Domainer - Good domain news and accompanying mailing list for domain news and alerts
Direct Navigation - Good domain name news, including “taken or not” contests
Dominik Mueller’s Blog - Good news and insight from an experienced domainer
DN Cartoons - Domainers laugh at themselves
DN Hour - The Digg for domain name content
DNXpert - Good domain name news from the author of the Domaining Manifesto
DNZoom - Blog for an excellent domain name management tool
Domain Bits - Good news and information from Jeff Behrendt
Domainer's Gazette - Good news and information from Peter
Domain Name News - One of the best news sources from Frank Michlick and Illinois’ own Adam Strong
Domain News Wire - A good news and information source
Domain Name Industry News - A good domain name and Internet news source
DomainTools Blog - Updates on the DomainTools service and industry information
Dot Sauce - The blog is just part of the information offered on this fast-growing domain name resource
Elliot’s Blog - Domain name developer Elliot Silver’s blog provides insight into his own business and the industry
What’s Your Name.com - News and insights from inside a domain register by Kellie Peterson at name.com
Rick’s Blog - “Domain King” Rick Schwartz’s blog, with frank domain name and business news and opinion
Seven Mile - Domainer guru Frank Schilling’s blog, though it hasn’t been updated in months
SuccessClick - Stephen Douglas’s blog with good domain name news
The Domains - Good industry and news source
Whizzbang’s Blog - Domainer Michael Gilmour’s blog is part of the information sharing, including an archive and forum

A final note – while this list is extensive, I have to admit I don’t always read every post in its entirety, and this also applies to blogs and feeds I read in general. Many of these blogs have links to others.

Please let me know your thoughts on any of these, as well as any others I may want to read.

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This past weekend I was bound and determined to clean out the 2 inboxes on my desk – a magazine rack where I would put incoming magazines until I read them, and a standard inbox where everything else went until I process it. As they were piling up and I really didn’t know the true extent of what was in them, I did not rest until everything was removed and processed. I am happy to report this was done, and the accompanying photo is my proof.

My inboxes became a literal dead zone in my office. A combination of personal and business items was piled up in the inbox, and back issues of everything from Inc. to the Red Eye going back farther than they should. So I sorted them, shredded the few things I couldn’t think of how they got in there, and took them on 1 by 1. At the end of the night, they were picture-perfect empty (the Omniture scarf under them is made by my client, SportsScarf).

To prevent this from repeating, I am eliminating the newspaper rack and just keeping the inbox. It already has made a difference in the appearance and feel of my desk, possibly even improving its feng shui? As magazines come in, I will read them. I will only keep items in it if they can not be processed right away for whatever reason.

This type of continual improvement once again reminds me productivity is a journey and not a destination.

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