If I Were The CEO of Sherwin-Williams

The Story of Sherwin Williams (SHW) began in 1866, when Henry Sherwin used his life savings of $2,000 to buy a partnership in the Truman Dunham Company of Ohio. The firm was a distributor of pigments, painting supplies, oils, and glass. In four years, this original partnership was dissolved, and Sherwin organized a paint business with new partners Edward P. Williams and A.T. Osborn. The new business was called Sherwin-Williams & Company. In 1873 the company purchase its first factory on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. The rest as they say is history (Source www.encyclopedia.com).

If this isn't a true Cleveland story, I don't know what is. I can empathize all these many hundreds of years later with Henry Sherwin when he put at stake his entire life savings to start a company, he believed in. That entrepreneurial spirit hasn't changed in Cleveland. We started a record number of businesses in 2018 with over 125,000 new business filings, up 56% since 2010. Ohio was just ranked 10 by CNBC for "top states for business." Admittedly we have vast improving to do in some categories such as "quality of life" and "business friendliness."

You may already be wondering, "why is he writing an article dreaming about being the CEO of Sherwin-Williams, giving us a history lesson, and then publishing his seemingly random thoughts?" Quality of living... you will catch on.

Here we go, jump on board. SHW is about to make a very large decision with its company’s future. Currently as it sits we the public are being led to believe by very reliable sources (@kennyPeepers ) that at a minimum its company's headquarters will remain downtown and in fact erase years of blighted parking lots that are left as scars and reminders of what once used to be. When you are making likely a lifelong decision for a $50+ billion market capitalization company with 6,000 people’s lives at stake, one would guess that decision will not, nor should it be taken lightly.

While I was not privy to recent meetings The Company had with local, city, and state representatives, I do have a venture to guess how some of the meeting went. First it started with over the top pleasantries about how important The Company is to Cleveland, and to Ohio. I am not begrudging, with this much at stake being on each other good side is prudent. Then we moved into what the city can offer, a narrative on how far we have come, where we are going, etc. Lastly, for sake of time, the company got into more specifics in terms of what they want to stay in Cleveland. All reasonable, any public CEO would/should exactly bring up matters that are most important to its shareholders. Here is where I depart in thinking, and am betting "The best version of Sherwin" and the future didn't actually ever come to fruition. You see, I think if this is done right, there isn't a tax incentive the city could give Sherwin if they forced the transformation our "leaders" have come so short in doing.

Sitting in front of us today we have multiple transformational projects that not only would pay back a better ROI to Sherwin's shareholders, each would also pay dividends to the community that loves and supports them every day in each retail paint store around this great State and our Country.

If I were CEO of Sherwin Williams I would insist as part of my package that Irish Town Bend would be funded as my green neighbor lying dormant ready to sprout. https://www.land-studio.org/projects/irishtown-bend. I would make sure the city/state guaranteed a start this spring, fully funded it, with an aggressive completion date that matches the completion date of "our" building or sooner.

If I were CEO of Sherwin Williams, I would insist the City of Cleveland and State of Ohio funded a land bridge from downtown Cleveland Mall B & C to the lakefront. This would start to finally give all citizens a proper view of one the grandest assets on earth, Lake Erie. No longer would we have to view longingly from Buildings 1/2 mile away.

If I were the CEO of Sherwin Williams, I would insist on a plan to close Burke Lakefront Airport and turn it into a world class park, amenities, and activation center which will attract people from all over the world. For those who want to argue this, we already have 19 million visitors a year, imagine if they could actually enjoy the lake?

If I were the CEO of Sherwin Williams, I would insist that route 90 on the east side of downtown be re-routed and incorporate the 50+ acres of land just cleared for the closure of the First Energy plant sitting on prime lake front footage. The Green Ribbon Coalition has done a nice job of laying out this awesome once in a generation opportunity to reclaim our Lake! https://www.greenribbonlakefront.org/

Some of you reading this probably think A) I'm a "tree huger" B) I'm out of touch with reality C) I'm not a capitalist D) I'm flat out crazy. Of all those options the only one that is remotely true is D, just ask my wife, family and friends.

If you had invested $1 in SHW stock in 2010, it would be worth just north of $9 today. Not a bad investment, right? What if I told you that if I had invested in public Greenspace and that it could be worth as much or more today than the SHW stock investment? Every $1 invested in land and conservation returns between $4-11 in natural goods and services. In every single city, in every country, Greenspace holds huge economic value through a) increased property values, b) serves as economic development tool, c) provides for neighborhood linkages, d) reduces costs of municipal services, e) increases tourism, f) improves public health, g) strengthens community cohesion, h) Provides Community gathering space, I) Improves quality of life (Source: Economic Benefits of Greenspace).

I could go on and on for days, and bring a lot more research to the table to support my thesis. I'll leave that to the experts. In the meantime, it is my bet that if I were sitting as CEO of Sherwin Williams and my "tax break ask" were related to the projects stated above, shareholders and stakeholders alike would see one of the greatest benefits to a company in the history of man-kind both monetarily and other intangibles. This foresight and vision would be taught in business schools’ books for centuries. The returns are almost immeasurable the amount of leverage to the upside these projects would have for Sherwin Williams, its shareholders, and our Country as a whole.