Several months ago, I announced that we would be publishing the World Class Asset Index to help overcome the widespread feeling that LeBron’s departure cost Northeast Ohio the only thing we had going for us. When
complete, the World Class Asset Index will include more than 250 businesses and cultural organizations that define us. We are proud of these assets and proud to tell the world about them. The Index will track the growth and progress of the assets, including the number of people they employ.
Little did we know we would have to complete a version of the Index just weeks after we announced it. To be precise, it was Dec. 1, the Monday after Thanksgiving, when we received this call: “Would you please send me your World Class Asset Index as soon as possible?” the female caller asked. “It’s an emergency.” When we asked what emergency, she said, “Because The Plain Dealer is at it again.”
Here is the story she told us. Her son came home for Thanksgiving accompanied by his new girlfriend. The son is a junior at Boston University majoring in business and, as frequently is the case, fell in love with a beautiful girl who is majoring in biomedicine at Harvard.
At some point the discussion around the Thanksgiving dinner table turned to where the son and potential daughter-in-law might want to live when starting their careers. While everyone at the table understood the correct answer was Cleveland, the parents were prepared for the worst. Surprisingly, after a lively debate, the kids were keeping an open mind about Cleveland, especially because of its reputation as a world-class medical center.
On Sunday, as was tradition, the family gathered in the living room to drink coffee and read the newspaper. Here is what the mother told us her son and girlfriend were treated to in the Forum section of The Plain Dealer:
⊲ A headline at the top of the page: “Greater Cleveland: Older, Smaller, Poorer.”
⊲ The statement that if we don’t start flying Continental more often, the airline will drastically curtail its service from Cleveland. “But it won’t be the airline’s fault. It will be ours.”
⊲ The writer’s comment about that: “If that happens, our inferiority complex — and our problems — will worsen.”
⊲ A statement by the same writer: If American Greetings leaves Cleveland, “start looking for the light switch.”
⊲ The statistic that our school system has the worst big-city graduation rate in Ohio.
The concerned mother finished her story by saying, “I kept looking at my son as he read the paper, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. What chance do we have of getting him to live here when he sees stories like this all the time? The biggest messenger of this inferiority complex garbage is our own newspaper.”
Sentimentalists that we are, we sympathized with the caller and sent her a list of the preliminary nominations for the World Class Asset Index. We felt it was the least we could do to keep a young couple in love from making a tragic mistake. What’s more, it was a fitting beginning to what we believe is a sure fix for an inferiority complex.
The World Class Asset Index can repair an inferiority complex in several ways. The first is that it is real. It is not a Pollyanna slogan backed by a million-dollar advertising budget. Nor is it some civic effort dedicated to making us something we’re not.
It is a list of real assets — businesses, hospitals, universities, arts, entertainment, parks and a Great Lake — that are world class or have the potential to be world class.
Today we joke about having a reputation as the best location in the nation as if it were never true. Once the Index is completed, we believe no one will question that we are one of the best locations in the nation to grow a business and raise a family.
Another way the World Class Asset Index can fix an inferiority complex is by eliminating any question of whether we are less of a city or region because we lose a basketball player, an airline or a greeting card company. The Index will show that our assets exceed our liabilities by such a large margin that we know we can take the blow and move on.
Last but not least, an understanding of our real assets gives us the confidence to leave doom and gloom behind and realize that appreciating our assets — even celebrating them — does not mean ignoring problems. It means we accept the fact that problems are opportunities in work clothes, and nothing great was ever accomplished without solving all sorts of problems along the way.
It is a confidence that comes from looking at our world-class businesses and cultural organizations and appreciating what they have accomplished to get where they are. They are proof-positive Northeast Ohio is a great place to start a career.
We are convinced the World Class Asset Index will fix any inferiority complex once and for all, but we need your help to make sure it is comprehensive. See page 15 of Neoconomist, in this issue of Inside Business, to learn how to submit nominations. We’ll present the results in a future issue. Then, if someday you’re a quart low on civic pride and want a quick fix, you can check the Index. You’ll see that Northeast Ohio is the place to be — whether you’re a young lover or a business leader. Or, for that matter, both.