Opinion

By Algenon Cash

The 2024 election brought three new members to the City Council. New leadership often brings new energy, new priorities, and a different way of looking at old problems. Rather than criticize from the sidelines, I decided to wait. I wanted to see what would emerge.

A year later, I’m still waiting.

Over the past few weeks I’ve watched Greensboro hold another State of the City address. I’ve watched newly elected council members host neighborhood walking tours and town halls. Whether you agree with every policy they’ve adopted isn’t really the point. Their leaders are constantly talking about where the city is headed. They have created a rhythm of communicating with residents about growth, housing, jobs, downtown development, and the future.

Leadership is about far more than running a city. Any competent administration can balance a budget, provide basic services, and approve development projects. Those things should be expected. Leadership is something different. Leadership gives people confidence that tomorrow can be better than today. It creates excitement. It attracts attention. It gives residents a reason to believe they are part of something that is moving forward.

I don’t sense that in Winston-Salem today.

To be fair, city leaders are currently asking residents to complete a community survey to help shape Winston-Salem’s long-term vision. I applaud that effort and encourage people to participate. Listening to residents is important.

But I also can’t help wondering why, after everything this city has accomplished over the past generation, we’re still asking basic questions about who we want to become.

Our challenge has never been a lack of assets.

We have outstanding hospitals, nationally respected universities, Innovation Quarter, a thriving arts community, a growing restaurant scene, beautiful neighborhoods, and a downtown that has come a long way over the past twenty years. We have history. We have talent. We have opportunity.

None of this is to suggest Winston-Salem is a city in decline. It isn’t.

The latest Census estimates show that Winston-Salem and the metropolitan area continue to grow. Downtown housing is expanding. The restaurant scene continues to demonstrate resilience. Healthcare, higher education, biomedical research, entrepreneurship, and quality of life continue to strengthen the city’s identity and attract new residents.

Compared to Greensboro, Winston-Salem is performing reasonably well. The difference is that Greensboro appears to have more momentum. Greensboro added thousands of new residents over the past year and has become increasingly aggressive in recruiting industry, expanding logistics and aerospace, and positioning itself as the economic center of the Triad. Winston-Salem has evolved differently, becoming a city increasingly defined by healthcare, education, innovation, entrepreneurship, and quality of life.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that distinction. In fact, it may ultimately become one of Winston-Salem’s greatest competitive advantages.

What concerns me isn’t our trajectory. It’s the absence of a compelling public narrative about where that trajectory is taking us. What I’m not sure we have anymore is urgency.

Look at the conversation happening just thirty minutes down the road.

Greensboro is publicly talking about an $800 million downtown development pipeline. City leaders are highlighting more than $1 billion invested in construction during the past year. They’re discussing plans to add 5,000 downtown residents, create 3,000 jobs, and recruit 100 new businesses. Greensboro Economic Development announced nearly 15,000 jobs in 2025 alone, representing approximately $4.74 billion in capital investment.

Maybe every goal won’t be reached. That’s not the point.

The point is that residents know what their leaders are trying to accomplish because those leaders keep talking about it. They keep repeating the vision. They keep inviting people into it.

Meanwhile, Winston-Salem feels oddly quiet.

Perhaps what has disappointed me most is that I intentionally stepped back because I expected to see the next big idea emerge. I assumed there would be a project, an initiative, or a defining vision that would make people believe Winston-Salem was entering another exciting chapter.

Instead, I find myself looking backward.

Innovation Quarter was transformational. Bailey Park changed downtown. The revitalization of Trade Street and Fourth Street changed the way people experienced the city.

Those were bold ideas. So what’s the next one?

Is it The Grounds? The downtown amphitheater? Another consultant-led visioning process?

I honestly don’t know.

Perhaps the most telling example is this: North Carolina continues to be recognized as one of the nation’s leading states for business. Yet if an executive or entrepreneur visited Winston-Salem without knowing that, would they leave believing they had just experienced one of America’s premier business environments? I’m not sure they would. That disconnect between the state’s expanding identity and the city’s momentum is difficult to ignore.

And that’s exactly my concern.

Cities aren’t transformed because a consultant writes another report or facilitates another series of community meetings. Those exercises have value, but they don’t create momentum. People create momentum.

Cities move forward when leaders paint a picture of the future that is so compelling people want to help build it. They challenge residents to think bigger. They encourage entrepreneurs to take risks. They give investors confidence. They inspire young professionals to stay instead of leave. Most importantly, they convince ordinary citizens that the city’s best days are still ahead.

That’s what leadership looks like.

A survey may help identify where residents want to go. It won’t create the energy, confidence, or ambition required to get us there. Only leadership can do that.

For me, that’s the difference between Greensboro and Winston-Salem right now.

Greensboro is talking about where it’s going. Winston-Salem is still trying to decide where it wants to go.

A State of the City address ultimately answers one simple question: Where are we going?

If that question still doesn’t have a compelling answer, perhaps that explains why the conversation itself has become so quiet.

Algenon Cash is a nationally recognized speaker and the managing director of Wharton Gladden & Company, an investment banking firm. Reach him at alc@whartongladden.com