June 1, 2017
The oft-quoted sage of baseball made this comment in reply to a question about declining attendance at Yankee Stadium in the mid-1960s. After decades of success, the Yankees had fallen from their annual perch atop the American League standings. Fans opted not to take advantage of a product that had fallen in quality and performance.
Fortunately, AICC, as a member-driven organization, does not suffer from a decline in quality and performance. On the contrary, your Association is constantly seeking ways to improve programming, content delivered, talent development opportunities, and advocacy for its members. That said, there are members who pay their dues (admission) but choose not to take full advantage of AICC programming (come out to the ballpark). AICC keeps tallies of engagement scores of members so that we can ensure that we have something for everyone in an association comprising diverse interests and activities. There is data to back this up.
In speaking with AICC constituents, there are many reasons for this somewhat passive approach to membership. Lack of time is usually the first one expressed, particularly by the owner or leadership staff of an independent converter. This is certainly understandable as a reason for the individual, but it does not take into account the possibility for others in the member organization to be able to access the broad range of programs that AICC has to offer. When a company joins AICC, all employees at all locations have access to member benefits. If you are investing in an AICC membership, you are investing in your people. Being an AICC member without membership benefits being available broadly and deeply in your organization is leaving a portion of that investment stranded—even if you as the leader may take advantage of the networking of an AICC national meeting, the camaraderie of an AICC regional event Summit—formerly known as regional meetings—or the best practices learned from participating in an AICC CEO Advisory Group.
AICC has now made your investment in membership all the more valuable through the inclusion of the full course roster of AICC online education as a part of that membership with no extra charges. This program is available to all personnel at any member company. See the related article on Page 38, and please see Steve Young’s remarks on this topic in “The Final Score.”
Returning to more of the wisdom of Mr. Berra, he once said, “It gets late kind of early out there,” referring to the shadows that appear in Yankee Stadium on a summer afternoon. He could very well have been speaking about the chances for the success of an enterprise that fails to properly and continuously train its people.
This newest AICC member value is a home run.
Mike D’Angelo is vice president of AICC.
