| For those of you have been around AME for any length of time, you know how much respect we have for Jim Collins. He was the closing keynoter at our 2006 Dallas Conference. Jim has agreed to allow his "Good to Great" concept to be used as the theme for our 2008 Toronto Conference. Another of his most recognizable concepts is that of a BHAG, a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Loosely defined, this is a goal so big that at first it seems impossible, almost ridiculous. A BHAG is a goal that can only be reached with the best people working on the best ideas with their best effort. Then maybe, just maybe, the impossible might be achieved. I have placed a BHAG before the AME. At our April board of directors meeting, I challenged the organization to grow to 10,000 members by December 31, 2008, the end of my term as chairman. Basically, we would be doubling the size of the organization in the next 18 months. Is this possible? Yes, I believe so. Will it be easy? No, it wouldn't be a BHAG if it were easy. Obviously, our membership won't grow 100 percent in 18 months simply because we announce that as our goal. It's a start, but concrete actions must now take place to make it a reality. In fact, our actions actually started almost two years ago with the beginning of a strategic planning process and the subsequent interviewing and surveying of hundreds of our members. Based on your responses, we will now begin to work and focus on the following four member service areas over the next few years: 1.Growing AME through greater visibility and recognition. |
2.Creating new product offerings, and aligning ourselves with other likeminded groups. 3.Creating new programs and services to specifically draw more CEOs to AME, furthering culture change from the highest organizational levels. 4.Creating greater opportunities for local and regional networking through state-of-the-art technologies and faceto- face opportunities. I want to specifically thank Glenn Marshall, Tony Laraia, Elizabeth King, and Ken Rolfes for their leadership in these four areas. Over the next few months, we will begin assigning people and dollars to specific programs of work in each of these four areas. I will use this column and others to convey more details to you over the next few months. We have asked you, the membership, what you need and want from AME. Now it is up to the organization's leadership to engage the right people on the right programs with the right support. By increasing the value proposition for participation in AME, I believe we will attract more new members and also retain more current members. This is how we will become an organization of 10,000. This is how AME will help maintain a strong, high-performance manufacturing presence in North America, vital to the economic strength of the region and its people . Keith Syberg Chairman |
Target Volume 23, Number 4
