In February, COSE and the Greater Cleveland Partnership consolidated some previously separate back office operations and strengthened the role and connections among small business leaders and leaders in other segments of the business community as part of the work of GCP. This is a change to the way we partner together to advocate for and support the needs of the business community.
I learned in the process that a little “uninformed” media coverage can go a long way. The ensuing weeks of cocktail conversation were peppered with hushed inquiries wondering, “IS COSE OK?” Other assumptions about these changes were pretty misplaced as well.
Near animosity
In 1997, when I first began working with the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, the gap between the perspectives of business large and small was pretty significant. There was almost an active animosity and a belief by small businesses that the community’s “corporate titans” were opposed to and uninterested in their success.
Some in the large business community were apathetic, if not just ignorant, of the value and contribution that could be made by small businesses. The “middle market” was just emerging in our vocabulary in 2004, when the GCP was formed. There was agreement that separate efforts by a number of organizations — Cleveland Tomorrow, the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, The Greater Cleveland Roundtable, NorTech and COSE — were wasting resources that could be better coordinated. While there was broad agreement that they could be more efficient, it was fair to say that there was still uneasiness about the intentions and role of each party.
After almost 12 years of working closely together, it’s obvious that the GCP was the right direction for the business community to have a more cohesive impact on Northeast Ohio. And, it’s become clear that each segment of the business community can support that by bringing its particular expertise to the conversation.
Much excitement
There isn’t a large business leader in Northeast Ohio that is not excited about the work of JumpStart for entrepreneurs; ECDI for microlending; or BioEnterprise and MAGNET in the life sciences or manufacturing. They get how impactful the growth and success of small companies and people with ideas are for the region.
The entrepreneurial thinking that our community’s incubators, accelerators and owner-education efforts are inspiring is equally valued in the innovation work that our large companies must do. Similarly, small business leaders are better at accessing and leveraging the resources and influence of large businesses.
That perspective is reflected in the shifts we’ve made within GCP. COSE will continue to specifically focus on providing support for the smallest of our community’s businesses. At the same time, COSE’s small business leaders now will be more directly at the table to help to drive and shape the broader business community conversation to improve the environment in which we all do business.
What could be more “OK” than that?
Steve Millard is president and executive director of the Council of Smaller Enterprises. For the last 15 years, he has guided COSE’s work to support the success of small business owners and act as a nonpartisan advocate and resource for their needs on the state and national levels. Contact him at www.cose.org
