Perspectives on Value

My thoughts and hopes for the year ahead are shaped by the perspective that a good challenge is exciting and that the future for those of us involved in the engineering profession is full of the great promise-which is essential to the world. I believe it is a great time to be alive and working in the engineering profession, and I believe it is a great time to be involved in ASME.

Terry Shoup

Never in recorded history has the need for what engineers have to offer been as critical as it is today. The challenges are immense, including the quest for a supply of abundant inexpensive energy, for adequate amounts of safe water, for security and safety for all people, for sustainable goods and services that will protect our environment, and for the design of devices and products that will lighten our load, enrich our lives, and enhance our understanding.

The people who make the most difference in finding solutions are the engineers. To meet these challenges we must learn to move across disciplinary boundaries and to move beyond working for a particular organization in a particular community, as part of a global workforce that can make the world a better place.

My perspective for this coming year is also shaped by three keys to sustaining success in a volunteer organization, offered to me by Glenn Tecker of Tecker Consultants.

First, develop a reputation for value, which for ASME is deeply rooted in its Codes and Standards; its comprehensive meetings, conferences and short courses; its world-class publications and online presence; its advocacy for education and government relations; and most important, its volunteers and staff whose working partnership is the single most important key to our success as professional society.

Second, develop an enjoyable culture, based on trust and communication. We are a culture that shares common values and common desires to see our profession advance. We work together to do what, at times, seems like the impossible. ASME is based on relationships and friendships that can last a lifetime. We create a culture that is both fulfilling and fun.

Third, develop a nimble infrastructure that allows us to quickly seize new opportunities to create value. ASME is operating with a newly established organizational structure that is more agile and responsive to needs, more efficient in its utilization of resources, and more visionary than ever in the history of our profession. In recent years we have met significant challenges. We have been able to respond to the call for expertise in the area of homeland security and to the need for a greater presence in global standards. We have been able to establish within our infrastructure a first-ever environmental scanning process. Our new structure has allowed us to understand better our revenues and our expenses and thus make better decisions about priorities. Our new infrastructure has allowed us to create a fund for innovation that will, in turn, create more opportunities for us to deliver value to our members, to our customers, and to the public.

During the coming year, we will focus our attention on keeping the momentum going. The needs of early career engineers remain as high priorities, because these people are the future of ASME and the profession. We will also continue to focus our attention on understanding what it means to be an organization in a global community and a part of a global workforce, no longer tethered to that which is only local, regional or national.

Being more responsive to the particular needs of those industries that employ our members and customers is equally important as a priority, because that is where we can best serve the profession. We will be focusing our attention on new and innovative ways to create revenue and value for the benefit of our members and our profession, because the long term-viability of our Society is linked to our financial responsibility and success.

My hope is that this will be a year of value, a year of enjoyable culture and a year of thoughtful responsiveness to change.

— Terry Shoup
ASME President 2006–2007

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