Gorillas in Our Midst.

It may be cliche by now to say that our job is change or to utter the phrase managing change. So be it. Fact of the matter is, having the smarts and fortitude to effect and implement positive change is critical and will remain so. In Senior Editor and Features Manager Gerry Romano's cover story this month, Robert Knowling, CEO and chairman of Internet Access Technologies, underscores the essence and importance of engaging in continual change with this analogy: "Managing change is like wrestling with a gorilla. You don't stop when you get tired; you stop when the gorilla gets tired."

Special Olympics President and CEO Tim Shriver was good enough to wrestle the gorilla for our cover photograph. Now, I don't know whether our gorilla (that's hardworking Graphic Designer and Production Manager Leigh Hubbard in the costume) ever tired, but I do know that Shriver has plenty of experience in making change happen. With his leadership, Special Olympics has revitalized by revising nigh everything to overcome limited funds, stagnation, the lack of a unifying goal, process problems, public inattention, and an aging vision. Of the necessity of change, Shriver says this: Do nothing, resist change, and you'll risk "having your customers see you as an outdated alternative." Shriver and Knowling, along with Catherine Milton of Save the Children, are big parts of the story that begins on page 30.

If like Shriver, Knowling, and Milton you're going to keep on effecting change, you're going to want to think like a genius, right? Turn to "Being Da Vinci" to find out how. Well, maybe Associate Editor Jane Eisinger's article won't turn us all into geniuses, but the seven principles she gathered from author and organizational consultant Michael Gelb and his recent book make a good framework for considering the qualities we need to bring to a dynamic environment. According to Gelb, Leonardo Da Vinci embodied curiosita, dimostrazione, sensazione, and other qualities that reflect human potential. "Business today requires a new kind of resume," says Gelb. "You've got to be critical thinkers and creative thinkers."

Speaking of critical and creative thinkers, the newest ASAE Fellows certainly qualify. If you want a glimpse of what they think about leveraging technology without inundating members, investing in staff professional development, and creating an environment that encourages balance, turn to page 69.

Critical and creative thinking is a thread that runs through the rest of this issue's features, as well. It takes both kinds of thinking to ascertain and act on the effect of a changing insurance market, and attorney Jeffrey P. Altman's article, "Run for Coverage," provides a good head start. It takes some analytical and improvisational savvy to run your convention a bit unconventionally, and that's something National Association of Realtors Executive Vice President Terrence M. McDermott, who wrote "Cashing in on Conventions," knows something about. Finally, it takes both sides of the brain to develop the strategy and tactics needed to draw an audience to your Web site, and I think you'll find some good ideas in "Out-of-Site Marketing," by Joe Dysart. As Internet marketing consultant Charles Sayers says early in the article, "The now cliche Web maxim 'If you build it, they will come' has lulled many online marketers into a false sense of opportunity. The truth is that Web site traffic building has its own se t of public relations [and marketing] needs and requires its own system of aggressive, attention-getting tactics."

Somewhere in your busy schedule-maybe between thinking creatively and effecting change-I hope you'll find time to enjoy this issue of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT. Think of it as fortification. After all, it takes strength and stamina to wrestle those gorillas.

KEITH C. SKILLMAN

Editor