“Economic development is the ultimate team sport.” Retired TeamNEO CEO Bill Koehler said it best. Watching the Cavs dominate this season, I couldn’t help but wonder—what if community and economic development played the same way?

What Makes a Championship Team?

  1. Clear Goals – Everyone knows the mission: Win. No confusion. No “Let’s just see how it goes.”
  2. Coordination – A solid coaching structure that brings out the best in individuals and the team. No rogue players running their own drills in the corner.
  3. Development – Constant recruitment and training of top-tier specialists. You don’t win championships with a roster full of “participation trophy” guys.
  4. Aligned Incentives – Players know what they’re working toward—big wins and big contracts, not just “exposure.”
  5. A Winning Mentality – The Cavs’ Let ‘Em Know embodies grit, swagger, and a healthy disrespect for doubters.

Now, imagine if economic development operated with this same intensity. Instead, we get…

If the Cavs Played Like Our Economic Development System…

  • No Clear Goal: Instead of basketball, half the players are tossing a football, a few are playing badminton, and someone’s setting up a croquet course. Oh, and one guy brought cupcakes.
  • Disjointed Coordination: There are multiple coaches, all yelling different strategies. Some players are being trained in “best practices,” but no one’s sure what game they’re actually playing. Meanwhile, some players are working in isolated cubicles, unaware that LeBron 2.0 is sitting three feet away.
  • Fragmented Development: Each player is optimizing their own skills—shooting, guarding, dribbling—but they’re in separate rooms. Individually? Elite. Collectively? A disaster.
  • Misaligned Incentives: Public, private, and government funding rewards random behaviors. The budget is massive, but instead of making the team better, we’re paying some players to practice free throws while others are learning interpretive dance.
  • No Shared Identity: Ask 10 organizations about the region’s vision, and you’ll get 10 different answers. Some want to be the Warriors, others the Bulls, and one guy really, really wants us to play hockey.

This isn’t a critique—it’s a wake-up call. Once we recognize the dysfunction, we can actually start winning.

Case Study: The Aerozone Alliance—Bringing Order to the Chaos

Take our business attraction strategy. Historically, it looked like the chaos above. So, we built a playbook:

  1. Scouted the Field – Mapped local real estate assets to understand what we had to work with. (Turns out, “hoping for the best” isn’t a strategy.)
  2. Brought the Team Together – Got elected officials, businesses, developers, and institutions in the same room. No more “Oh, I didn’t know you existed!” moments.
  3. Defined the Playbook – Identified the types of businesses we actually wanted (instead of just saying, “Yeah, we’ll take anyone”).
  4. Activated the Strategy – With a shared vision and common data, we executed actual game-time plays.
  5. Drove Momentum – Suddenly, partners were pursuing real estate development projects en masse. New uses for the NASA Hangar! A fortune 50 company looking to expand operations at the Aerozone! New hotel development! Aviation Businesses expanding operations at the Airport! An international energy company interested in relocating to the Aerozone—because someone finally told them why Northeast Ohio is awesome.
  6. Amplified the Impact – Secured an Economic Development Administration federal grant with TeamNEO, MAGNET, the Cleveland Foundation, Fund For Our Economic Future and others. Turns out, teamwork does make the dream work.

We’re not quite the Cavs yet, but we’ve got the right players, a solid game plan, and momentum on our side.

And yes, it’s us against the world—so let’s Let ‘Em Know we mean business!

Best regards,

signature of Hrishue Mahalaha

Hrishue Mahalaha
Executive Director
Aerozone Alliance