It’s No Mistake. Hip, Hip Hooray for Cleveland on the Lake!

It is easy to say, “Wow!” LeBron James and the team did it, breaking records along the way. This team won the NBA Championship on Sunday evening, ending a 52-year drought for any professional team to win a championship in Cleveland.

I am not really a basketball follower. Game 6 and Game 7 were the first basketball games I watched in the entire season. And I fully expected Cleveland to lose to the Warriors. Heck, the Warriors were the best team for the entire season.

I was born in Cleveland and lived there for 18 years in the ’50s and ’60s, when the Browns were winning and the Indians occasionally looked good. I left town, and the winning curse came about. I released the curse after my cancer treatments and you know what happened, they WON! So along the same vein, I hereby release all curses on all glass shops in the U.S. and Canada. No exceptions, no fine print. 

Here’s all you have to do to be like the Cavaliers:

• Get the best talent in the glass industry within a reasonable commuting distance;
• Pay your new recruit near the top end of your pay scale, leaving some room to grow;
• If you can get two or three really great glass people, get them, understanding you cannot grow your business without great talent; and
• Have your crew work as a team, supporting each other and the company.

And your job is to bring in the work, supply the raw materials and let your team do their magic. The single most important asset your company has its team of players. This was the Cavaliers’ road to success, and it should be yours, too.