Communities organizations, cities and companies must work every day to truly achieve the big picture of creating smart cities. Our goal of transforming existing infrastructure to create innovative, resourceful urban areas is a project that will span generations.

I spoke about this vision as a panelist on the Voice America Business Channel’s radio show on the future of smart cities. I joined Steve Sarnecki, the vice president of public sector at OSIsoft, and Lisa D’Alesandro, vice president for SAP’s regulated industries industry value advisory practice, for a special edition of Voice America’s, “Coffee Break with Game-Changers.”

The program by Voice America, the worldwide leader in live internet talk radio, provides a refreshing hour of business talk. This episode was a part of a special series featuring game-changing technologies.

To kick off the show, we were each asked to bring a quote and explain how it applies to the development of smart cities. I selected a quote from Nick Saban, head football coach at University of Alabama, who has led teams to multiple national titles: “Success doesn’t come from pie-in-the-sky thinking. It’s the result of consciously doing something each day that will add to your overall excellence.”

This quotation best embodies my approach to smart cities since the biggest key in achieving a smart city is having a plan and executing it. Smart city initiatives around the world need to be more than just hype, so I really like Nick's thinking about a plan and then chipping away at that each and every day.

I’m passionate about this big plan to create smart cities and I want to leave the world a better place for the next generation. So, let’s do something every day to chip away at the goal of someday waking up having built a city that will transform people’s lives.

Listen to a recording of the show to hear the full show.