There are no leaderless societies, and generally leaders of failing societies have a difficult time accepting the responsibility for the actions they take to create the outcomes they have received.   This is squarely where the city of Cleveland sits today.

While there are many cities in colder locations that have developed and grown such as Minneapolis and Chicago, cities like Cleveland have been stuck in a state of stagnation like a giant pool of quicksand.    It’s not LeBron James you should be mad at for the fans of Cleveland; it simply comes down to being angry with the leaders that you have chosen to run your part of the world.

I lived in Cleveland for six years in this past decade, so I can speak from experience as I was one of the 2^nd row season ticket holders when LeBron James burst on to the basketball scene.    From a stadium that could barely get 5,000 fans a night, it evolved into a sellout crowd every night squarely on the back of LeBron James.    While LeBron was filling seats at the Q, what was the city of Cleveland doing to improve itself . . . absolutely nothing.

Let’s face the facts.    The Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame is located in Cleveland right on the waterfront.   Yet, the new inductees in the Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame are actually inducted in New York City and not in Cleveland.   No self respecting leadership team would allow that to happen, even the city of Canton where they gladly hold the ceremony for new inductees for the Football Hall Of Fame.

While every surrounding state developed casino business to attract jobs and other events to increase tourism, the city of Cleveland and the state of Ohio went back and forth about having a casino.   Now that one recently got approved, it is a day late and a dollar short just like watching LeBron James leave his precious hometown.

The waterfront of Cleveland could have been developed into something special.  However, with a football stadium that isn’t even used 20 times during the year, a lakefront airport that merely serves as a 3 day Grand Prix Event, and not even a path to let you walk the waterfront on lake Erie, Cleveland has been unable to figure out a way to make the waterfront area a truly special place while other cities in various locations across the United States have turned themselves into mini powerhouses.

The fact is that there isn’t a superstar on this planet today that wants to call Cleveland home.  Putting the cold weather and snowy days aside, the leaders of that city and the people who call that area of home just haven’t accepted that real change needs to happen if you want to attract talent.   We all know that the most important step in creating a city or business culture is getting the right talent on the bus.    You can’t get them on that bus if your bus looks more like a 1974 Chevy Vega.

46 years without a championship, the mistake on the lake, a football team leaving in the middle of the night, high unemployment, no growth, and now the prodigal son LeBron James has left for good.   Leaders of Cleveland, if this isn’t a wake up call you may permanently be in a coma.   The are no leaderless societies . . that is except for maybe the city of Cleveland.

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Ted Jenkin, CFP^®, AAMS^®, AWMA^®, CRPC^®, CMFC^®, CRPS^®
Co-CEO and Founder oXYGen Financial, Inc.

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