by Paul Kiser
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Last week I offered my thoughts about Re-Imagining Rotary. That was the first part of what I wanted to say.
Early in 2010 I wrote an article about ‘Dissatisfiers.’ The point of the article was to suggest that before a decision to make a significant life change (switch to a competitor, quit a job, or leave an organization, etc.) a person has typically will have experienced a series of negative events with the company or organization that sets the stage for them to make that decision. In the end, the reason for making a change is about the series of dissatisfiers, not a single event.
I now have arrived at that place with Rotary. While the final decision to leave Rotary was reached in the last week or so, the stage has been set for me to leave for some time. The final reason is simple. Rotary no longer offers the satisfaction it once did and that is largely due to an ongoing series of smaller, but significant, dissatisfying experiences.
However, I still have great admiration for Rotary and many of the great people who are a part of this organization. The concept of Rotary is a brilliant one. It is place where business professionals from all trades and industries can meet, share ideas, and help to build better communities by donating their vocational skills. It is an organization that we sorely needed in a world that has become increasing motivated by selfish and unethical desires.
Rotary is an organization with the most crystal clear guiding principles of any organization I have ever known. The Four-Way Test is a standard that brings morality to any situation or person. The Test is simple:
- First, is it the truth
- Second, is it fair to all concerned
- Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships
- Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned
We would have no need for government oversight of any business endeavor if the legal standard was the Four-Way Test. To be certain, not every Rotarian, including those in a leadership position, abides by the Four-Way Test everyday. It is a difficult, and somewhat unnatural, philosophy to maintain. But just the attempt brings honor to those who try.
What I discovered in Rotary was that many of those who were members were among the best of the best in the business world. If the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris, were alive today I would love the opportunity to introduce him to some of the people who served as great examples of what it now means to be a Rotarian. I would find people like Mike Hix who was President of the Rotary Club of Sparks, (Nevada, USA,) the year I was inducted. Mr. Harris would be well pleased with Mike and what he has done for his club, his community, and his Zone.
There are thousands of examples of great Rotarians who have made the world a better place and are working hard to keep Rotary relevant in a rapidly evolving new world of business and I am honored I have had the opportunity to work beside just a few of them in the last 9 1/2 years.
But Rotary faces a huge challenge in the next few years. Because of Rotary’s close attachment to the business world, the organization is mired in same traditions of hierarchical structures and slow responsiveness to change that currently plague many American industries. Younger professionals typically ignore and/or bypass most of the traditional business concepts of leadership and organizational structure that restrict change, which is why many young professionals find Rotary outdated. That is why Rotary’s future lies in its ability to adjust to the expectations of younger professionals.
Can Rotary overcome challenges it faces? It will because it has to, and I will cheer on those who make it happen. Thank you to Rotary and to those who cheered me on for most of this last decade.
Business: Public Relations, Management, and Social Media Related
- Facebook and Twitter Doomed? …Chicken Crap
- 5 reasons why you shouldn’t title your blog with number reasons
- A Question of Ethics
- HR/Security Hot Topic: Should you watch your employee’s personal Internet activities? (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.)
- Relationship Typing: 3 factors that affect the quality and depth of friendship (Part I)
- Starbucks Re-Imagines the business … again
- Your Privacy Rights on the Internet: Read before you write
- Social Media 3Q Update: Who uses Facebook, Twitter,LinkedIn, and MySpace?
- Richmond Embassy Suites: The best at true Hospitality
- Dear Business Person: It’s 2010, please update your brain.
- Selling watered-down beer: The best spin campaign in advertising
- Communication: Repetition of message does not increase awareness
- Is it time to fire yourself?
- Millennium Hotel: Go away, spend your money elsewhere
- Rogue Flight Attendant shows his arrogance, Airlines dislike for the customer
- 2Q 2010 Social Media Tools: Facebook/Twitter sail on, LinkedIn/MySpace don’t
- War Declared on Social Media: Desperate Acts of Traditional Media
- Pay It Middle: The Balance between Too Much and Too Little Compensation
- Mega Executive Pay Leads to Poor Performance
- Relationships and Thin-Slicing: Why the other person knows what you’re really thinking
- Browser Wars: Internet Explorer losing, Google Chrome gaining ground
- WiFi on Southwest Airlines: Is it ‘Shovel Ready’?
- Starbucks makes a smart move: Free WiFi
- Foul Play: FIFA shows what less regulation offers to business
- The Shock of the McChrystal Story: The story is over before the article is published
- Tony Hayward: The very model of a modern Major General
- Epic Fail: PR ‘Experts’ don’t get Twitter
- King of Anything: Social Media vs Traditional Media
- Twitter is the Thunderstorm of World Thought
- Signs of the Times
- How Social Interactive Media Could Transform Higher Education
- How to Become a Zen Master of Social Media
- Death of All Salesmen!
- Aristotle’s General Rules on Social Media
- Social Media: What is it and Why Should You Care?
- Social Media 2020: Keep it Personal
- Social Media 2020: Who Shouldn’t Be Teaching Social Media
- Social Media 2020: Public Relations 2001 vs Social Media Relations 2010
- Social Media 2020: Who Moved My Public Relations?
- Publishing Industry to End 2012
- Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & LinkedIn?
- Fear of Public Relations
- Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit
- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…Oh My!
- Does Anybody Really Understand PR?
Rotary Related
- Re-Imagining Rotary
- Rotary@105: 7 Relationship types that affect membership retention (Part II)
- What most non-Rotarians don’t know about Rotary
- Rotary@105: Making Rotary Sexy
- Rotary@105: Grieving change
- How Rotary can..must..will plug into Social Media
- Rotary PR: Disrespecting the Club President is a PR/Membership issue
- Rotary Membership/Public Image Challenge
- Rotary New Year: Retread or Renaissance?
- Rotary@105: A young professionals networking club?
- One Rotary Center: A home for 1.2 million members
- Rotary@105: What BP Could Learn from the 1914 Rotary Code of Ethics
- Rotary Magazine Dilemma Reveals the Impact of Social Media
- Rotary@105: April 24th – Donald M. Carter Day
- Rotary@105: What kind of animal is Rotary International?
- Rotary: The Man in the Yellow Hat as the Ideal Club President?
- Rotary@105: Our 1st Rotary Club Dropout
- Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win
- Rotary: All Public Relations is Local
- Best Practices: Become a Target!
Science Related
Personal Experience Related
- Knowing when it’s over or beyond over
- Dear Teresa Laraba, SVP of Southwest Airlines Customer Service
- Things I didn’t know about being a Father to a four-year-old boy
- Riding Reno: The Ladies of Reno
- Up in the air down in Texas
- I mow my lawn because…
- Nevada I-580: An Interstate by any other name
- Nevada’s oldest brewery opens a Reno location
- Two Barbecues and a Wedding
- Car Dealership Re-Imagines Customer Service
Our Country and History Related
- Sandoval/Reid campaign money not a stimulus for Nevada
- Nevada’s Best Kept Secret: #1 in Crime
- The Vultures Start Circling on Election Day
- The Quality of Mercy: Tea Party seeks its pound of flesh
- I’m not angry, nor am I stupid … and I voted
- Point of Confusion
- What I’m not buying this year
- Nevada: State of Disaster
- Thank you, Mr. President
- America’s Hostile Takeover of Mexico
Paul,
I’m sorry to hear that you are moving on from Rotary. I’ve found your thoughts challenging. But I also understand there are seasons in life and leaving Rotary doesn’t mean living the ideals and desire to make a positive contribution in your endeavors.
Best of luck
Nicolaas
Nicolaas:
Thank you for your comment. I agree that the ideals and opportunity to serve can extend beyond Rotary. I’m sure my Rotary experiences will continue to occupy many of my future articles.
Have a great Holiday season!
Paul
Paul, I think you are doing exactly what I think Rotary needs more of not less of and that is people who are willing to stick their necks out and ask that there ideas are considered, enhanced, collaborated on and constantly injected into the current fabric of Rotary. We have more than our share of folks who never add to the debate and only seek to maintain the status quo….I know it its frustrating as hell you read it all the time on linkedin and other sources but it is a song simply sung by folks who just do not understand the impact that the next generation and the Gen Y’ers (100 million of them) are having and will have. To ignore two generations of people who have never been without instant communication for example is peeing your pants to keep your legs warm, IMHO ! I am hoping you will reconsider and recognize that “the best Gold is always found at the bottom of a big pile of crap !” I truly appreciate your willingness to share and stand-up in front of this aging giant with the best of intentions and largest of hearts…it just that this giant is comprised of humans that hate change; its not that they won’t change, it just come very hard to them……ya just have to keep telling them “no, really, it is going to be ok !”…..Thanks again for your efforts and insights.
Larry Coppenrath
Larry:
Wow! Thanks for your comments! I’m not sure where to start. I love the ‘peeing pants’ and ‘where the best gold is found,’ comments. I agree with you. Rotary is a big ship and it will take time to turn. As I see it, the challenges are to, 1) keep those who work for change engaged in the process, 2) educate those who might resist the process, and, 3) keep the process from being sabotaged by the Cardinals of the Church of Traditional Thinking. It no small task, but it can be done.
Thanks again and Happy Holidays!
Paul
Happened upon your blog here from 2010. Is it still valid? Have you left Rotary or returned? Are you still wrestling with those same reasons? I am engaged with other Rotarians trying to push some climate change and environmental issues in my District and I am shocked by the pushback and resistance to change. So, I am curious and intrigued by your 2010 analysis.
Hi Ingrid,
To answer your questions, I have not returned to Rotary and I have no plans to rejoin. I was approached a few years ago and asked to rejoin and I declined. I am a great admirer of the concept of Paul Harris, but the business community has become so toxic with people who can recite the Four-Way Test, and in the next breath say that Obama wasn’t born in the United States.
Rotary is caught between two extremes. On one hand, the international organization knows the clubs have to be more open minded about recruiting new members and on the other hand the club members only want to bring in ‘quality’ members, which is code for recruiting people who look, act, and believe what they do.
It sounds strange, but Rotary has to abandon the current clubs and let them die out. In addition, they have to clean out the old men in the parent organization. The rules of RI are designed to maintain the status quo. They have to start new clubs that have a different expectation than the old white man’s clubs. When I joined Rotary in 2001 it had 1.2 million members. Today, 15 years, later there are still only 1.2 million members. They are not moving the needle and they can’t accept that what they are doing is not working. In the United States there is less than 350,000 Rotary members and there are 27 million businesses. Something is definitely not working in Rotary’s effort to recruit new members.
All that said, there are some great people in Rotary. It is unfortunate that they are having to battle the dinosaurs to get anything accomplished. Good luck
Hi Paul,
I am so relieved to read your post. I happen to be a member of a French Rotary Club. No point of rewriting what you said “Rotary is caught between two extremes. On one hand, the international organization knows the clubs have to be more open minded about recruiting new members and on the other hand the club members only want to bring in ‘quality’ members, which is code for recruiting people who look, act, and believe what they do. ”
That sums it all. I have taken part in small charity organisations where every penny was used for… charity. All I see in Rotary is people who have the money, the expertise, the networks and yet the mountain gives birth to a mouse.
Next week, I will resign precisely for all these reasons. I met great people, but I cannot accept it when ethics in practice do not respect the four-way test.