ASHRAE Journal - August 2011 - 19

wonders or you kind of are left wondering what in the heck the Playing team sports in college makes the value of nominating committee was thinking when they selected us, partnerships absolutely clear. If you’re a running back in right? I hope that I’m not in that second category when we’re the SEC (Southeastern Conference) and you don’t have any through here, but it’s very important for me to keep the focus linemen in front of you blocking, you will have no yards at on the members. the end of that season. And only those considered leaders can There’s really two areas of focus that I think I want to talk continue on when those blockers drop away. to you about for next year, and one of them is getting beyond And, boy, does leadership require courage. the short term. If ASHRAE is going to be a leader in the world, and I want There’s a great tendency with a one-year term to sit down to make sure that we are, we’re going to have to do some and think about, okay, what are the three or four or five things courageous things every once in a while, and that means we’re I think I can really get accomplished? going to have to take some risks. At the end of the year, you can stand up and talk about all I don’t know how many people ever read the book, The that you accomplished. And that’s really nice but that tends Millionaire Next Door, but it has some marvelous quotes. I read to shorten your horizon, and you can lose sight of the bigger one of them right before I came here that said, Courage can picture. So I think it’s more important for us to try to set goals be developed, but it can’t be nurtured in an environment where and engage in those activities that will make this organization there are no difficulties, dangers or risks. So if we’re going to be strong in the future. a world leader, we are going to have to take some risks. Most important is leadership. This includes the development And last, but not least, leadership is contagious. Why do of our future leaders. But it also means that we engage in you think people follow people who are great leaders? They activities that position ASHRAE as a global leader, and that like the enthusiasm, they like the movement and they like the ASHRAE uses its leadership to strengthen our industry. drive. All of these things are really important. And those are So I’m going to share some of my thoughts on leadership. One of my And I want to be clear that this is all about the members. views of leadership is that it’s has to be demonstrated, not just declared. Too often sometimes, we focus on the president’s posiYou can say you’re a leader, we can write a strategic plan that says we’re a leader, but we have to do tion. It is an awesome position, and there’s a lot of authose things that demonstrate the kind of activities that are considered thority, but at the end of the day it’s really all about memactually leading. Another part of my view on leadership is that it’s 50 percent bers, rather than the president. having the vision, seeing where you’re going, being able to articulate what’s out there on the horizon. The other 50 percent is looking the kind of things that hopefully I will be able to deliver, and I back over your shoulder to see if anybody’s following. This hope that the rest of our leaders will, too. We can actually have is because leaders bring people along with them, right, they some fun while we do this too. don’t go alone. One of the best quotes I’ve ever seen about leadership came I used to say when I was on the Standards Committee from Dwight D. Eisenhower. He said, “Leadership is the art of that getting the right leader, getting the right chairman of a getting someone else to do something you want done because committee was 80 percent of the way to solving the problem. he wants to do it.” If that doesn’t describe ASHRAE and its When we get the best chairman, or the best leaders on our volunteer ethic, I don’t know what does. That’s the most on committees, we can solve any problems that we face. target quote that I think I’ve ever seen. We need to think about And leaders don’t do it alone. Not only do they need this as we move forward. their committees, but organizations that are leaders need So where am I going to shine the spotlight during my partnerships and teamwork to make things happen. presidential year? There are three pillars that support my theme.
About the President · Ronald “Ron” Jarnagin is a staff scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash. His past service includes all offices on the Executive Committee; chair of the President-Elect Advisory Committee, Members Council, the Advocacy Committee and the Building Energy Quotient Ad Hoc Committee. He also has chaired ASHRAE Standard 90.1 committee, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, and the committees that wrote three of the Advanced Energy Design Guides. As ASHRAE’s 2011–12 president, Jarnagin directs the Society’s Board of Directors and oversees the Executive Committee. Jarnagin has an undergraduate degree in accounting from Louisiana State University, and an undergraduate and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida.

August 2011

ASHRAE Journal

ASHRAE Journal - August 2011

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