Navigation by innovation┬áKeith Regan learns how innovation has been in North Sails GroupÔÇÖs DNA from the start and how it believes that staying the course on a new product launch is the right tack even in stormy economic seas.  Since Lowell North founded it in a San Diego loft in 1957, North Sails Group has grown into the largest maker of sails in the world, a market share that starts at the top of the performance chain.

Caring about healthcare┬áKeith Regan learns how National Research CorporationÔÇÖs services are evolving to address the unique needs of the industry in todayÔÇÖs complex healthcare world. Today, more than ever in their history, hospitals and other healthcare institutions are increasingly focused on finding competitive advantages, hoping to keep beds full and become the healthcare source of choice for consumers in their markets.

From strength to strength┬áJeff Vanden Beukel, director of Lockheed MartinÔÇÖs TIROS program, tells Gay Sutton how an isolated workplace incident led to a recovery program that improved manufacture and test processes, strengthened management and enhanced the companyÔÇÖs reputation for excellence. Global security and information technology company Lockheed Martin has a proud pedigree of operations in the space sectorÔÇönot only building an array of weather satellites that monitor the earthÔÇÖs weather systems, but taking the lead on many space programs...

Holding the treeline┬áSince it was founded in 1938, Lewis Tree Service has focused on doing one thing and doing it well. John OÔÇÖHanlon uncovers some secrets of its remarkable recent growth, in conversation with COO Tom Rogers. They say that if the human race disappeared, after a century youÔÇÖd hardly know we had existed. Nature is vigorous and quickly encroaches on any neglected space. That includes the terrain through which we have run our oil pipelines, our electricity lines and, of course, our roads.

Click on the icon┬áThe real estate mantra is location, location, location, but the real winners are those who, like Langham Properties Ltd., see tomorrowÔÇÖs location more clearly than others, as Dan Bailey learns. For most of the past 25 years, the city of Edmonton has outgrown the rest of Canada.

Getting a new start┬áA new light rail transit segment, the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension, links historic areas of Los Angeles, Gary Toushek learns. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), with an operating budget of $3.4 billion per year, serves as transportation planner, coordinator, designer, builder and operator for one of the largest counties in the US, with more than 9.6 million peopleÔÇönearly one-third of CaliforniaÔÇÖs residents.

Tweak and improve┬áHow do you affordably sustain excellence in energy management? Continuous improvement and partnerships are the keys, Gary Toushek learns. In 2008, BC Hydro honored Kwantlen Polytechnic University of Surrey, British Columbia, with its Excellence in Energy Management Award.

Power brokers┬áKitchener-Wilmot Hydro has been providing electricity to its customers for nearly a century. April Terreri is your guide to discover the companyÔÇÖs latest endeavors in 21st-century power upgrades. The electrification of the US and Canada has a romantic past with hydroelectric power.

Getting better everyday┬áWork is well under way on the rebuilding, expansion and refurbishment of Kingston General Hospital, Ruari McCallion learns from Krista Wells. The heart of Kingston General Hospital (KGH) in Kingston, Ontario, has quite a historical legacy. From 1841 to 1884 it was the home of CanadaÔÇÖs original Parliament, when the Province of Canada was created under the Act of Union (1840).

Conservation in the Heartland┬áThe Kansas City Board of Public Utilities operates both electricity and water systems for the Kansas community. Keith Regan learns how water and electricity go together surprisingly well. ┬áThe Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU) marks its 100th anniversary as a vastly different company than the one founded to help foster the growth of the Midwestern city a century ago.