RON
WAGNER
ACTE
PRESIDENT
ACTE
Business Meeting
Monday, April 3, 2000 Dallas, TX
Good
morning fellow ACTE members and distinguished guests. For
me, it is both an honor and a surprise to be standing here
today addressing this group as your new ACTE President.
When I was nominated as one of the potential candidates
for President I was honored to be among such a prestigious
and experienced group. The surprise I felt when I was told
that I was selected as President was overwhelming and immediately
reminded me of a situation that occurred at an account I
had in the early 80's.
This
was in California and the account was a stereotypical, nouveau
California, do-it-yourself religion. Actually, it was a
publishing company that really wanted to sell books but
presented itself as this newfound religion, complete with
a flamboyant Guru or Grand Guru as its leader. This Guru
drove a flashy red corvette that was usually parked out
in front of their offices everyday. After not seeing the
red corvette in the parking lot for a few days I finally
asked their travel manager what had happened to this guy.
He told me that a few days ago the Grand Guru had a vision
in the middle of the night. And in this vision it was revealed
to him that he should no longer be the Grand Guru. The new
Guru would be revealed to him in another vision, in Hollywood
they would call that a sequel. Anyway, he had a second vision
and indeed the identity of the new Guru was revealed. The
very next day he drove his red corvette to the office and
parked it in the Grand Guru's designated spot. Just as he
was getting out of his car, the company's staff photographer
drove into the parking lot; yes even a nouveau California
religion needs a staff photographer. As the photographer
got out of his car, the Grand Guru walked up to him, put
his hand on the photographerÕs shoulder and said, "Congratulations,
you have been chosen to be the new Guru." And with
that he climbed back into his red corvette and drove off,
leaving a very stunned photographer standing in the parking
lot.
When
my selection was announced at the conference in Costa del
Sol I felt a lot like that photographer! From photographer
to Grand Guru in an instant, and me, from travel industry
supplier to President of ACTE, representing the premier
corporate travel professionals in the industry.
So,
here I am. While I have been involved in ACTE for many years
I'm sure that many of you are wondering just who is Ron
Wagner?
I
have been in the travel industry for almost 33 years now.
As a kid it was always my dream to be a corporate travel
executive. Unlike most of the kids in my neighborhood who
had Batman and Robin as their heroes, my heroes were these
guys, Fred Swaffer and Earl Foster.
When
I looked back at my career in travel I realized it consisted
of companies that either no longer exist or that some of
you may have never heard of! I started in the industry with
Western Airlines which became Delta, I then went to Hughes
Airwest which became Republic which then became Northwest.
After about fifteen years of airline experience I went and
got a real job working for a corporate travel management
company called Haley Travel in San Francisco. Haley became
American Express about a month after I joined them. After
spending some time in the yacht charter business and with
Diner's Club, I went to work for IVI Travel, which merged
with US Travel to become BTI, which merged with WorldTravel
Partners.
I
think my travel career is a testament to the amount of change
in our industry today. One thing is certain - the rate of
change is changing and technology is one of, if not the
biggest single factor. Think about its impact on transportation
alone. Think about the speed of a stagecoach versus a train,
versus an automobile, versus a rocket ship. WeÕve moved
through those four technologies in less than 150 years and
we're just getting into full speed. It 's this rapid pace
of change that will make the next few years critical in
defining or redefining our industry, our profession and
the very nature of this association. Over the past 10 years
ACTE has experienced tremendous success in building the
premier educational and networking organization in the corporate
travel industry. We have seen membership growth in all regions
of the world, unsurpassed educational offerings and invaluable
networking opportunities. As Earl said, we have set the
standard of excellence in the industry for others to strive
for. But like all successful organizations, the challenge
is to keep the momentum going and in today's world that
means going at warp speed. Or "Zero Time" as they
say in today's dot.com world.
The
term "Zero Time" was coined by Keri Pearlson and
Ray Yeh, two professors at the University of Texas Business
School, who are studying the speed of change and its impact
on business and competition. They contend that the accelerated
rate of change in today's world is causing a compression
of time. And time is the variable that drives everything
else For example; it used to take 20 years to build a $1
billion company. Now it takes as little as 3 years or less.
To be successful in the 21st century, organizations will
need to capture this compression of time in a way that enables
them to evolve and flourish. They will need to operate in
so-called "Zero Time."
"Zero
Time" is about the ability to react instantaneously,
to provide value for your customer at every opportunity.
It means when something needs to happen, it can to happen
immediately.
So
as we operate in "Zero Time", what are the major
challenges facing ACTE, what is the role of its leaders
and its members?
Before
I give you my take on our challenges ahead I think it's
important to keep focused on our vision and purpose:
Our
vision is to be THE global network of leading business travel
professionals.
And
our statement of purpose: to provide the environment and
programs that enhance the professional development of our
membership and support business travel objectives.
In
this era of "Zero time" and rapid change, how
do we deliver value to our members?
Which
takes me back to the challenges ahead:
First,
how do we deal with or manage our own growth? Since our
inception 10 years ago, our membership has grown tremendously.
Today we are over 2,400 members strong. And we are proud
to be the only organization in the corporate travel arena
that allows both corporate travel and supplier executives
to be represented equally.
We
now have active member groups in all major regions of the
world, U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Do
we to continue to increase our membership in all regions?
Or do we limit membership? How big is too big? Do we have
the right balance of corporate to supplier members? Are
we attracting the right level of executives to ACTE? Is
there an ideal member profile? Is it different in each region?
How do we assure good member retention? How aggressively
do we develop emerging regions?
These
are all questions that we will have to answer if we are
to take ACTE to the next level. And we will have to address
them all in ÒZero TimeÓ.
Our
second challenge. How do we continue to deliver educational
offerings that inspire professional growth and surpass member
expectations? I think all of you would agree that the quality
of our educational programs has improved dramatically since
the first ACTE conferences. We truly have set a new standard
in the industry. But can we be satisfied with business as
usual or do we need to look for new and better ways to meet
our educational goals?
At
Chiat/Day, a large advertising agency, when new employees
arrive at the agency they're given a T-shirt that says,
"Innovate or die." And in small print underneath
those words, it says, "And death is not an option."
I
think we're a little more lenient at ACTE but the message
still applies. We must continually evaluate our programs
to develop better ways to deliver value to our members.
The competition for dollars spent on training and education
is stronger than ever. We need to make sure that we get
our fair share, that we are the source of choice for professional
education in the industry. And to do this we must "Innovate."
And this could mean breaking some rules, or doing things
differently.
Do
we completely reengineer our conference and forum structure?
Do we need to hold two major conferences each year? Is one
enough? How do we leverage our web site to deliver educational
programs? What about creating networking opportunities?
Can our web site become THE resource for corporate travel
information? How do we know what the members really want?
And
how do we figure it out in "Zero Time."
Challenge
#3: Communications. In addition to its high quality educational
offerings, ACTE's primary value is in its networking opportunities.
And the key to successful networking is communicating. No
amount of book or classroom learning can replace the value
of a one-on-one conversation with a peer who has mastered
the art of negotiating a net-net deal or has successfully
implemented an automated booking tool.
John
Seely Brown, head of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center,
tells a story about the power of social interaction in transferring
information. Xerox, in order to reduce the number of repair
people for their copiers, spent millions developing documentation
to outline the repair processes for their copiers. I'm sure
that most of us in this room have experienced the frustration
of trying to decipher the flashing directions on the copier
during a paper jam – which I'm convinced only happen
when your in a hurry! Anyway, in spite of their documentation
efforts they found that the most effective repair training
took place during lunch-time tip-swapping by the company
administrative assistants – proving the value of networking.
So,
how do we stimulate interaction among all of our members?
How do we create better communication among members, ACTE
leadership and staff? How do we develop a communications
infrastructure to support our global organization? How do
we communicate our value to the business community? How
do we harness to the power of the web to better understand
what our members want?
And
how do we do this in "Zero Time."
Interwoven
through all of this is the impact of technology and our
ability to leverage it to meet these challenges. If ACTE
really is to become a "Zero Time" organization,
one that is positioned to deliver what's needed when its
needed, we won't do it without the internet.
The
Web has the potential to transform virtually everything
that it touches. And these days, it touches virtually everything
– from how companies think about strategy, to how they
market products, to how they find customers. But the Web
doesn't just change how companies operate. It also changes
how the people inside those companies operate – how
they communicate, how they share ideas, even how they relax
and recharge their batteries. In short, the Web will change
how we work – if we know how to work the Web. For ACTE
this means having an e-commerce strategy that supports our
organization's goals; membership growth and focus, educational
excellence, and an unsurpassed networking environment.
Our
challenges are tough but we have set the bar of excellence
before and I am confident that we will set the bar at a
new level in the 21st century, in "Zero Time."
Now,
a little bit about the role of ACTE leadership and, finally,
your role in meeting these challenges.
I
recently read an article in Fortune magazine about what
it will take to be a leader in the future. The article quoted
an Arthur Andersen study called "The Evolving Role
of Executive Leadership." According to the study, the
perfect leader, if "she" existed would be someone
who:
Thinks
globally,
Anticipates opportunity,
Creates a shared vision,
Develops and empowers people,
Appreciates cultural diversity,
Builds teamwork and partnerships,
Embraces change,
Shows technological savvy,
Encourages constructive challenge,
Ensures customer satisfaction,
Achieves a competitive advantage,
Demonstrates personal mastery,
Shares leadership, and
Lives the values.
To
this you can also add possesses physical and mental stamina.
I
think it is safe to say that there isn't a single individual
that possess each and every one of those dimensions. And
if there were I would have to add the word delusional to
their list of characteristics!
So
what is the role of a leader, or in my case the new ACTE
President, in an organization where no one person is smart
enough to be truly "in charge"?
I
view my role as a manager of capabilities; not to necessarily
plan each of the organization's actions but to increase
our capacity to act and respond, to build alliances with
other organizations, make decisions that reflect our global
nature, build partnerships across the industry and treat
people with respect and dignity. And I also view my role
as one who creates leaders at every level in the organization.
Thorton
May, who runs Cambridge Technology's Management Lab, said
he was thinking of changing his title to Vice President
of Ignorance because the real key to competitive advantage
is to recognize what you donÕt know and then to surround
yourself with people who do.
This
was precisely my thinking when I selected the following
group of people to work with me in meeting the challenges
ahead. Let me introduce the incoming ACTE officers.
Steven
Schoen of e-Travel, will be the new Secretary and Vice President
of Administration, managing the business activities of the
association. Steven has a long history with ACTE and will
add significant experience to our officer group.
Managing
our growth is such a big challenge that I've called on two
highly skilled professionals to take it on from two perspectives,
membership growth and global expansion. Julie Hylton of
American Express Corporate Services will move from V.P.
of Administration to the newly created position of V.P.
of Membership. Huub Smeets from Rockwell Automation in Europe
will be the new V.P. of Global Development.
Education
is at the core of our goals and purpose. As we plan for
new education programs and forums around the world and on
the internet we need take a fresh look at our approach,
to be innovative and creative. I am most pleased to announce
our new V.P. of Education, Greeley Koch from Bank of America.
Communications
is so important to the future of this organization that
we created a new position to manage it. Colleen Guhin, Global
Travel Manager at ON Semiconductor, will serve as ACTE's
first V.P. of Communication. Colleen is also a veteran of
ACTE having just served as V.P of Education.
Recognizing
the importance of using technology to enable our association
we have created a new position, V.P. of Technology. This
person will be responsible for developing and managing our
e-commerce strategy. Im pleased to announce that Julie Thomte
Rabern of Dell Computer has accepted this new position.
The
bottom line is critical to our existence. We must develop
and maintain a financial model that will sustain our organization
and help us to keep pace in the fast changing world we live
in. Mark Williams of Price Waterhouse Coopers will be the
new Treasurer and V.P. of Finance for ACTE.
So
there you have it, the new ACTE Leadership Team, with emphasis
on TEAM. As we evolve as the new leadership of ACTE we must
evolve not as individuals but as a cohesive team. The ACTE
Leadership Team will respond to the needs of the membership
and speak as a team representing the diverse challenges
and views of the organization and it's members.
But
is the Leadership Team really in charge? I think Blake Nordstrom,
President of Nordstrom Stores answered that question best.
He said, "Anyone who thinks the CEO, or in our case,
the Leadership Team, is in charge is out of touch with what's
happening in business. The customer is in charge."
You,
the members of ACTE are the customers. You are in charge.
It is our job as the Leadership Team to respond to the needs
of the membership and to do this we need to know what you
are thinking. What are your answers to the challenges and
questions ahead of ACTE?
We
will be aggressively pursuing vehicles to gather your thoughts
and opinions by conducting member surveys and focus groups.
I urge you to participate in them, communicate with me,
the other officers, and members of the Board of Governors.
I envision ACTE as a highly interactive, member driven organization.
Please, take your role in achieving this vision seriously.
Andy
Grove at Intel said, "There is at least one point in
the history of any organization when you have to change
dramatically to rise to the next performance level. Miss
that moment and you start to decline."
I
am convinced that we are at that momentÉ but I don't believe
we will miss it. We are too smart, too strong and we have
too much at stake. We will rise to the next level, and the
next.
And
frankly, I am looking forward to the journey in "Zero
Time."
Thank
you.
