The Value of Association Leadership

As I reflect on my year as SAME President, which is rapidly coming to a close at the 2007 Joint Engineer Education and Training Conference & Expo in May, I have found the opportunity to lead this professional association both challenging and rewarding.  First and foremost, SAME is blessed with outstanding leadership from both the public and private sectors. We have great diversity in our leadership and I truly believe that helps make us a better organization. SAME can be proud to have well- educated, experienced and professional leaders. Many of our Post and national leaders are military commanders or heads of major engineering organizations. They all have extremely busy jobs, particularly since 2003 with frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan both for themselves and their people. Yet, these individuals step up to the challenge of leading SAME. I genuinely want to thank each of you for your courage and commitment during this difficult time. I know it’s not easy to squeeze anything more into our already busy lives, but we all benefit from your experience and your leadership.

Most of us serve SAME out of a sense of duty to the profession of military engineering that also drives us to accept leadership roles. To lead is to mentor, and to mentor is to give back to the profession and ensure its sustainability into the future. While SAME Fellows take a pledge to mentor, you don’t have to be a Fellow to accept this professional challenge. Why wait? Help share your knowledge now, just as others have likely helped you get where you are today.

One of the challenges of association leadership is that it’s truly a test of your ability to inspire others to action and to empower a team. In leading associations, even more so than leading in your own organization, giving orders doesn’t work. As association leaders, we must establish reasonable goals and then motivate, encourage, empower and assist our volunteers in accomplishing those goals with limited volunteer resources. 

I challenge Post presidents to provide leadership by reading and understanding the SAME Strategic Plan and Post Streamers criteria that are aligned with the Strategic Plan. Then establish a near-term plan of action to implement the Strategic Plan and compete for Post Streamers. At the end of the day, SAME’s success will be measured by its accomplishments. If we all pull together and focus on the Strategic Plan, those accomplishments will be relevant to SAME’s mission and will collectively yield a force that is greater than the sum of individual Post accomplishments. As we say in the military, “one team, one fight.” Our team is our 118 Posts. Our fight is our Strategic Plan that supports our mission. 

The value of association leadership is both tangible and intangible. If we are competent leaders, we will have people who want to follow us, and we will create a positive leadership environment that will accelerate SAME to new heights. I encourage you to learn as much as you can from this organization, emulate leaders you respect and admire, and share your insights with others. That will secure SAME’s enduring presence. 
I have thoroughly enjoyed my year as your President and genuinely want to thank the many volunteer leaders for their commitment to SAME’s mission in support of national security. I remain convinced that SAME is as important today as it was in 1920 when it was formed to bring together private and public sector engineers. I offer a special thank you to our Executive Director Bob Wolff, and his staff at headquarters for their support and guidance, and for doing the heavy lifting for me. I know I’ll leave SAME in good hands when I turn over the gavel to Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, P.E., F.SAME, in May. I look forward to seeing all of you at the Joint Engineer Education and Training Conference & Expo in Philadelphia. Essayons!

Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, P.E.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
SAME President, 2006 – 2007