Association Leadership - September/October 2007 - (Page 7)

chairman’s column “The CEO of a remarkable association helps both elected leaders and staff to think in terms of what is possible, and enables things to happen rather than decreeing what will happen.” Eddy Edmondson Texas Nursery & Landscape Association Enabling a successful environment When I ﬁrst read the outline of the 7 Measures book and came across the phrase “CEO as broker of ideas,” I imagined Bill Gates charging into the board room with a vision of world domination for Microsoft. Not so. Thinking about how we used the term “broker,” I thought about real estate, or stocks, and realized a broker is someone who carries out a service on behalf of someone else – and charges for the service. The authors of 7 Measures actually used the term broker to be much more like a steward than a visionary leader. Reading on, I learned the CEOs of remarkable associations understood the organization’s vision and “engaged others in deﬁning, reﬁning and responding” to that vision. More important than being a visionary leader was facilitating visionary thinking throughout the organization. The CEO of a remarkable association helps both elected leaders and staff to think in terms of what is possible, and enables things to happen rather than decreeing what will happen. This description reminded me of a comment made once by that truly remarkable association executive Terry Townsend, about an association executive being one who leads while appearing to follow. This measure relates closely to the preceding one on being a “chatty” organization (see the July/August issue). The leaders of remarkable associations created a culture in which both staff and volunteers felt encouraged to engage in visionary thinking and free to share their dreams without fear of reprisal or ridicule. In case you have been counting, you will know that we are now up to measure ﬁve in our seven measures. The book collects these measures into three areas: commitment to purpose, commitment to analysis and feedback, and commitment to action. Under purpose, we focused on having a customer-service culture and alignment of products and services with mission. This month’s topic ends the analysis and feedback section that’s included data-driven strategies, dialogue and engagement. The ﬁnal section, commitment to action, includes organizational adaptability and alliance building. Since my term of ofﬁce as your chairman ends in September, the action to which I am committed is leaving this ofﬁce no worse off than when I assumed it. I want to thank Leslie Midgley for turning it over to me in such good shape and I have faith that our incoming chairman, Jim Boon, will provide the leadership necessary to continue TSAE’s forward momentum. Thanks to all of you who have made this a great year. ◆ September/October 2007 | Association LEADERSHIP 7

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Leadership - September/October 2007

Contents Chairman's Column Homepage 60-Second Solutions An Interview with TSAE’s New Chairman TSAE’s Newest Board Members 7 Measures of Success Association Case Study: Diversity on the Board Assessing Your Association: Texas Nursery and Landscape Association TSAE's Annual Golf Tournament Between the Covers Now Online at TSAE.org – Association Leadership Magazine Getting Found Through Web Searches “I Survived a Year on a Committee!” New Members Community Spotlight San Antonio Mississippi Gulf Coast Index to Advertisers Board of Directors

Association Leadership - September/October 2007

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