Raising the Bar.

Let me confess right up front: I stole the title of this column from former Congressman John Kasich (ROH), who challenged executives attending ASAE's annual meeting and exposition in Philadelphia last month to "raise the bar"--to use their gifts to make things better than they were before.

Kasich, author of the book Courage Is Contagious, illustrated his contention that "doing the right thing can bring you great success" with examples--famous and not--of the realization of human potential. The most touching was the story of Albert, who shines shoes at a children's hospital--and has donated some $67,000 in tips to the health care organization.

"It's about raising the bar. It's about using the gifts God gave us," urged Kasich. Today we are led to believe you have to "hit a home run. But I ask you, what if you change the lives of three people? All of us have a gift to participate in raising the bar. And that's what associations [and the people who lead them] are all about."

I think he's right. Here's a case in point: Colin Rorrie, Jr., CAE, who is ASAE's new chief elected officer (see the interview beginning on page 40). He, like many others in the association community, volunteers on top of his day job. He does it because, as he says in the interview, "I think we all have an opportunity to leave our communities better than we found them." And because it's fun as well as worthwhile. Here's something you won't read in the interview. Rorrie says we all have "a role to play in decreasing the gap between aspiration and reality." For the past several years he has served on the board of an emergency aid center in the Dallas area. And as he said during a general session at the ASAE annual meeting, for him, "the gap between aspiration and reality has lessened through the experience.

For organizations, bridging the gap between aspiration and reality is sometimes a leap and more often incremental. And I can't think of an instance in which it hasn't involved a vision, a value proposition, a plan, and discipline. Author Jim Collins--who will speak at the second digitalNow conference, September 20-22 at the Disney Institute in Lake Buena Vista, Florida--has devoted five years of research to exploring the concept of moving from good to great. We hope to offer more of Jim Collins's insights in the future, but for now these comments seem apropos to the idea of "raising the bar" and much of the content of this issue of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT. "Good-to-great organizations shun techno fads and pioneer the application of specific technologies (called technology accelerators) that support their value proposition," says Collins, whose book, Good to Great: Why Some Organizations Make the Leap and Others Don't, is scheduled for release in January 2002. "The key question is, 'How do you know what is a fa d and what is the right technology to pioneer?"'

This issue is full of examples of associations and association leaders endeavoring to go from good to great, or maybe even from great to greater. "Certification Testing: Still Waiting for Home Delivery" examines the state of Internet certification testing and how some associations are wrestling with the challenges and possibilities posed by technology. In "Redeveloping Professional Development," authors Kathy A. Powell, CAE, and Karen Krzmarzick outline the steps they took to improve a national training program for chapters and affiliates. "Going for It: Getting Revenue the New Electronic Way" and the companion article "The Dot-Coin After the Storm" are full of insights into e-commerce ventures against the backdrop of recent dot-com setbacks. And "How Far Can You Flex?" looks at maximizing human resources potential through the lens of leveraging flexible work options.

The thread of betterment that runs through these articles reminds me of something Lily Tomlin related during her colorful general session performance at the annual meeting. As she told it, the great cellist Pablo Casals, asked during his 80s why he continued to practice five hours a day, responded with this: "I think I'm getting better." Indeed.

KEITH C. SKILLMAN, CAE

Editor in Chief

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