Mon, 17 August 2015
Detroit and Cobo Center may seem synonymous, but Cobo has a unique reinvention story all its own. In this episode, Patrick Bero, CEO/CFO of the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority gives us an interesting account of Cobo's reinvention starting with a major disruption in the belly of the economic decline. Patrick has a lot to say about what happened after the reality set in that there was no way Cobo could keep doing business the same way and remain in existence. QUOTE IT “It all starts from a crisis point. We had to clear a lot of hurdles to get to this point. We had to earn a lot of trust.” (9:28) “Are you really going to just change the cosmetics and throw a little paint on something or are you going to fundamentally change the way you live and work every day?” (15:55) DIG IN Around 15:20 Patrick describes their struggle with whether or not to rename Cobo and why they decided to stick with it even though they had an image problem. TAKEAWAYS |