American Chamber of Commerce Executive Message

A Great Message for Today..... from Mick Flemming, ACCE President

Onward.

With varying degrees of success, I have attempted to make a one-word slogan the driving force in my professional life and - I like to think - in the life of this organization.

The last ten days, I admit to more than a few moments of self-doubt and anxiety. How could anyone not have such feelings in the face of nearly unimaginable changes in the economic life of the nation and the world? Wouldn't it be nice if you and I had the luxury of succumbing to despair? Wouldn't a full-blown abdication and escape to a bar, a beach, or the fetal position feel good about now?

Well, that's not an option. Never before has my one-word mantra been more relevant for me personally and, I suspect for some of you. Of course we will need to adapt and avoid going blindly forward as if changes aren't going to affect us. But we must continue the critical work, carry the messages of hope, and fight for the principles and goals we know to be right with whatever resources we have available. It's what we do.

Think of it this way: Everything you have ever learned . . . every skill you've developed, every network you've nurtured and every experience you've stored in your personal and organizational arsenals must now be put to use in the most important challenge of our time. The chamber of commerce movement (regardless of what monikers we attach to our entities) has obligation to push, pull, steer and drive the economic recovery of this country. Others will weigh in too, of course, but can they succeed without your regional and street-level leadership? Impossible.

You'll need help in this struggle from the broad and deep network of peers and staff who compose the ACCE family.

Unless you have another direction you can recommend, I would suggest that we continue . . .

Onward.

Mick Fleming, President, ACCE

Posted with Permission - Our membership with ACCE at work.