Have the COURAGE to Get Involved in New Cleveland

I have received a great deal of feedback on my New Cleveland post about investment in a single differentiated asset. Many are believers, and have offered ideas on what the asset should be. Some are concerned that we might "make the wrong bet," while others think that it is impossible for a public body to go through a selection process that that results in something truly beneficial. Here's the good news: such a process can be done very effectively, and I have witnessed it directly. In the 1980's, the entire basis for the Pittsburgh economy (steel) was ripped out overnight when J&L Steel merged with LTV and moved to Cleveland. The Pittsburgh region successfully recreated the basis for its economy with an open, transparent, effective process for selecting a rational public investment that has provided sustained regional economic advantage.

However, the only way we can be assured of an effective process is to be ACTIVE CITIZENS, and to get involved.

Informed Decisions, Not "Bets"

We shouldn't be "betting" at all. If it feels like betting, we haven't done our homework. We need to do the HARD WORK of identifying our regional assets and several economic platforms that would give Cleveland a sustainable global advantage. What we should do is put together a team with non-partisan, experienced, relevant talent, just as Pittsburgh did 20 years ago.

Public Process, Private Participation

We tend to focus on failures, and I understand healthy skepticism. However, effective public action is possible, and it happened in a city very much like Cleveland - Pittsburgh. An incredibly effective public/private partnership comprised of the leaders of Pittsburgh's largest companies and its public leaders - Mayor Dick Caligiuri, Senator John Heinz, and Governor Richard Thornburg. They all came together to:

• Assemble a team of qualified, experienced businesspeople and economic specialists

• Perform detailed interviews with hundreds of companies and regional organizations to collect hard data on why they were in the 13 county (!) region, and what the advantages and disadvantages were versus their other locations. (Companies and universities donated staff for this extensive, year-long research project)

• Identify several differentiated assets that could form the basis for a new Pittsburgh economy.

• Pursue all of them until the opportunity to secure one became a certainty. (The Department of Defense's Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University)

• Create the public and private support systems necessary to allow the entire regional economy to build on the foundation.

Pittsburgh has effectively created a new technology-based service economy for the 13 county region as evidenced by the 270,000 employees of over 1,400 companies that belong to the Pittsburgh High Tech Council. We, too, can identify a basis for our new regional economy, one that will employ the majority of our workforce and give our region a new economic base.

Don't Hope For It, Do It!

Our current president had unparalleled support during his campaign. However, he alone cannot succeed in achieving his national goals, nor can any one politician succeed in achieving Northeast Ohio's economic rebirth. We must ALL help in the effort with ACTIVE support. As Alan Kay said, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

Will you invent New Cleveland? If you like this idea, get involved. Here is a directory of Ohio elected officials and media. If you make ONE call, or write ONE email to a local or state politician or business leader to ask that they organize an effort to create a new economy for Northeast Ohio, you'll be making a real difference. You'll be building New Cleveland.

Please jump into the dialog!  Post your comments on samgerace.gather.com.  Want to be notified of new posts and comments?  Join the group!

( a follow-up post: It's Not Timing, It is COURAGE)