Masonry Magazine April 1997 Page. 7
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Leadership
What do you think of when you hear the word leadership? What exactly is leadership and who possesses it? Is leadership a John Elway guiding the Denver Broncos to another come from behind victory or a Michael Jordan leading the Chicago Bulls to a fifth NBA Championship? Is it Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy or Harry Truman leading our country out of troubled time? Is leadership George Patton, Douglas MacArthur or Dwight Eisenhower leading troops to ultimate victory? Or is leadership a teacher or athletic coach inspiring a young person to achieve at a higher level?
To me, real leadership is the ability to see a vision and inspire others to achieve that bold vision. To motivate others when they would otherwise choose to quit. Leadership is all of the above.
Where do we find leadership in the masonry industry? Leadership in the masonry industry is the mason contractor that completes a project at higher standards than customer expectations, or a block or brick manufacturer that supplies nothing but the highest quality product at competitive prices. Leadership is men and women who donate their time at their own expense to serve on industry committees, task force groups and elective office of an association. Leadership is Donald Larsen, Mike Johnston, Bill McConnell, Frank Campitelli, Alan Griffin, Robert Schuerman, Fred Kinateder, John Smith, Robert Fenimore, Ken Thompson, Rennie Tejeda, and Bob Barkshire who serve as officers of the Mason Contractors Association of America. Leadership is Dick Felice, Dick Matthews, Paul Clements Jr., Roy Swindal, Mark Larsen, John Smith Jr., Doug Nichols who serve as MCAA Committee Chairmen. Leadership is MCAA Past Presidents who continue to remain active like Lenny Pardue, Bill Dentinger, Dee Brown, Dick Matthews, Dick Felice and Bob Hatch.
Leadership is all of the MCAA State Chairmen, Chapter Presidents and everyone that serves on an MCAA committee or local board. Leadership is MCAA members who pay dues to enable the association to work on behalf of all contractors.
Leadership is the MCAA
Unfortunately, leadership often times draws unfounded attacks by those who stand to lose control in the face of real leadership. But as true leaders in the masonry industry, we cannot be deterred by those who would criticize us or attack our efforts. We must remain on the course we have established in our Long Range Plan and provide the necessary programs and services that mason contractors asked us to provide.
Most importantly, we must provide the one thing that will build a better masonry industry for all mason contractors and that is "leadership."
My fellow members, I am proud to report to you that the State of The Association is strong, active, and viable. We have once again provided strong proven leadership to all mason contractors. I am now extremely pleased to report on some of the accomplishments that we have achieved in the past year.
MCAA Training Manuals Published
Unprecedented is the only word that can describe the accomplishment we achieved when the MCAA published three text books for training masons. It took only nine short months to publish what has become the best manuals on the market today for training masons. In fact, the acceptance has been so overwhelming that we have achieved a full years sales goal in just the first six months of our fiscal year. I need not remind you that the adequate availability of a well trained workforce is our industry's most critical need. We can't compete unless mason contractors have an available workforce to employ. MCAA recognized this need and the fact that little was being done nationally to insure our workforce in the future and we acted to solve this problem. Our success is not just the publishing of these high quality text books. The real measure of our success will come with the establishment of new quality training programs all across the country. We have begun to succeed in this area as well. New programs are beginning in areas such as Continued on page 41
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