Chairman's Message.

As volunteer leaders, we are an integral part of the game plan of our respective associations, helping them to grow and providing an objective sounding board for the implementation of the association's agenda. In realizing the extent of our leverage, it is incumbent on us to use our consensus-building skills to help the association reach its goals and objectives. Indeed, the growth of an association is directly proportionate to the collective strength, willingness, and ability of its board--the volunteer leaders who truly set the wheels of change in motion.

Our leadership is essential to the success of our associations. But the climate in which we volunteer has changed dramatically in ways we didn't anticipate even 10 years ago: There are far more demands for our attention, while time has become an ever more rare and precious commodity for all of us. We are all necessarily more discriminating in our choices for volunteerism, selecting organizations that offer real work that has tangible value to both the volunteer leadership and the association.

In this special Leadership Issue of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT, the importance of volunteer leaders, the added value we offer associations, and our inclusion in the work that is accomplished by the association is covered at length. Engaging the resources of volunteers is the practical acknowledgement that we listen differently, perhaps even more objectively, to the strategic endeavors of our association and can, therefore, articulate the connection between the association's wide-ranging work and its ambitions.

I believe the hardest and best work we do as volunteers is to provide the highest level of leadership to the organizations we serve. To achieve that, we must fortify our commitment of time and energy to those organizations that rely upon our validation and experience by doing all that we can to understand our leadership roles and responsibilities and to use the tools available to us to help our associations envision and move toward their futures.

When we merge volunteerism with that of successful and achieving professional staff, the voice becomes one, resounding with credibility and legitimacy, thereby driving home the power of association.