November 8, 2005

Striving to be a gorilla in the business jungle

I’ve always had a fairly good memory, although it hasn’t always manifested itself in ways that others may consider constructive. For instance, I can reel-off the starting line-up for the 1966 Cleveland Indians but I occasionally forget to take my kids for their annual vaccinations or get the brakes checked on the car.

Just kidding.

What I do forget is generally forgotten because it falls-off my radar screen early in the thought process and never fully re-emerges. What I manage to remember sticks there for eternity.

Among my more recent vivid memories was a conversation with someone who had stopped at the Chamber Office to pick-up a copy of our Membership Directory. As this young man was new to the area, I was expounding on what a great place Blair County is to live and work. He seemed quite interested in the cover of the Directory and before I could explain how much creativity went into the cover’s design, he asked me a question that froze me in my tracks.

“It says here that the Chamber is the Voice of Business in Blair County. Are you?”

There are little-white-lies and big gargantuan ones. I’d like to think my “Absolutely!” fell on the low side – a “big” little-white-lie replete with a major dose of wishful thinking.

It’s not that it’s hard for me to sell our position. After all, whenever an issue affecting business gains some degree of prominence, I’m contacted by practically every media outlet in the region, asking my opinion. That, however, has been the problem. What they too often get when they ask is my opinion. It may be a logical reflection of what most Chamber members may believe about a particular topic but it’s got no validation beyond the organization’s willingness to continue to employ me as its spokesperson.

Happily, that process is changing. Thanks to a number of upgrades in The Chamber’s ability to reach and, when necessary, survey its membership, we can now speak with a higher degree of consensus on things like legislative issues and transportation priorities.

Most recently we conducted a survey through our fax network asking our members to determine which issues they think need the most consideration by our Legislative Action Committee. Even though our fax network hasn’t been the most effective method of gaining member feedback, the response to the survey was outstanding. (The responses are listed in “Your Chamber at Work” elsewhere in this publication).

Follow-up conversations with longtime members and those who’ve joined most recently indicate no evidence of disparity on what they view as the Chamber’s mission. The former, however, has more of a feel for whether that mission has been followed.

“Certainly The Chamber does a credible job in informing, educating and creating networking opportunities for the members,” a Chamber veteran of thirty-eight-years told me. “I’m not sure how well the advocacy role is going. There may be things going-on that I’m not aware of. If there are, it would probably be a good idea to let us know.”

More than just a good idea. I can tell you that our most recognizable advocacy effort is to hold an annual Business Advocacy Dinner where we honor a business leader who has unselfishly advocated on behalf of the business community. A nice event but a weak attempt to satisfy an objective. Inviting Pavarotti to your house doesn’t make you an opera singer.

The Chamber is therefore committed to also changing the dynamic. Through greater participation with the U.S. and Pennsylvania Chambers, we’re now part of a network that keeps us abreast of what the key issues are and how our members can impact their outcomes.

It’s a challenge to harness and grow our collective influence when our past protocols were to defer to our elected officials and hope they would represent our interests. Fortunately, for the most part, they have. Yet why leave so much to chance? At a time when the business agenda too often gets stuck behind some of the more volatile political antagonists, it’s time to exert the strength that, even when fragmented, carries the economy of our nation.

It needs to start at the grassroots level and it needs to start now. The mission of an organization like The Chamber has to be based on a deep sense of commitment to our members and the obligation to show the community what we stand for.

Once accomplished, that will truly be something worth remembering.

Past Chamber Notes

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