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Solutions October 2005
President's
Message
By
Jeff Long
An
Open Mind Gives You Freedom
to Be Your Best
This
month marks the end of my tenure
as DMIA president. It has been
an exhilarating experience and
a wonderful opportunity for me
to become acquainted with so many
of you.
As
you know, my theme this year was
“Being the Best.”
I have attempted to address pertinent
topics with you, such as the effects
of a positive attitude, leadership
style, trusting your intuition
and how to motivate your employees.
There’s no question that
a flexible and open mind assists
us in discovering new opportunities.
As our association moves forward,
it will be confronted with many
changes, and our role is to embrace
those changes and establish new
goals and strategies to meet members’
needs.
Your
Board of Directors has performed
well for you this year. Your interests
have been placed above everything
else, and we have tried to create
an atmosphere of being more accessible,
giving you the opportunity to
express your thoughts and ideas
about how your association can
best benefit you.
We
emphasized increased networking
opportunities to cultivate the
best thinking and most effective
services. Partnering has taken
a stronghold, and we’re
beginning to see “trust
levels” building as partnerships
form to broaden our service agendas.
More cooperative effort among
members is creating new avenues
of access, and these initiatives
feed the positive energy levels
among members who embrace change
and want to see new things happen.
Personally,
I’m pleased to see a new
and different type of leadership
emerging, and it’s exciting
to feel the renewed strength of
our association. There’s
an upbeat vibration in the air,
and it’s contagious. The
level of involvement and commitment
among members has increased, and
there’s an overall willingness
to share information.
Recent
changes in the tempo can be attributed
only to the efforts of the membership
at large, and I’m proud,
along with the rest of the Board,
to have contributed to these changing
directions. They will ultimately
strengthen our association and
serve to create more excitement
in our industry as a whole.
Tim
Mehl, CEO of Dispatch, Erie, Pa.,
succeeds me as your incoming president.
He has the distinction of being
identified by the Myers-Briggs
personality test as the only introvert
among DMIA’s Board members.
His quiet and caring nature, combined
with superb analytical skills,
makes him an excellent strategist
for moving our association forward.
He has a dry wit and charming
sense of humor that will endear
him to you. His agenda this year
will continue to focus on capturing
DMIA’s identity and reinforcing
the value of networking and participation
to create a stronger membership.
Thank
you for giving me the opportunity
to serve you this past year. It’s
truly uplifting to see the increase
in new membership, and the eagerness
of staff, Board and members working
together to pave the way for the
future. Remember: “Believe
in your dreams, believe you can
make a difference, and above all,
believe the best is yet to be.”
Jeff
Long is director of manufacturer
Graphic Dimensions Inc., based
in Atlanta, and president of DMIA.
“I’m
pleased to see a new and different
type of leadership emerging, and
it’s exciting to feel the
renewed strength of our association.”
