 1995 Autumn ACTE Quarterly: President's Message | Demystifying the Internet | International Task Force Report PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE: Dear Colleague, Some years ago, I was having lunch with a Senior V.P. of Hoechst Celanese and commented that I was struggling with all of the changes going on in the company. I asked him when he thought "things" were going to get back to normal. He replied, "They have. And you had better get used to it." His point was, and is, well taken. Change, and adjusting to it, is today's norm. If it hasn't already, your organization will keep reshaping itself by restructuring, outsourcing and right-sizing. And if you're like many people, you may be less than thrilled about it. Part of our discomfort is a kind of an innate resistance to change. Another reason may be that many of us are stretched to the limit already, working longer hours with fewer resources and tighter budgets than ever. A few years ago the usual response was to hire more people. Today this approach would put you out of business. It's a given that more is expected of you than ever before. It's rough out there in travel management. The job function is infinitely more complex than it's ever been. The question is, how do you remain competitive? One way is to develop a kind of entrepreneurial spirit, and run your department the way you would a business. You need to run lean, think fast, but most importantly, to think in terms of adding value. Don't just dwell on how hard you're working, and how hard it is to keep up. Everyone in the corporate world is in the same boat. If your hard work doesn't translate into added value to your customers, your days are numbered. Another way is to continue looking ahead, anticipating the skills you'll need to be successful into the next millennium. The fact that you're reading this journal is encouraging, because it means you're looking to keep up with your professional peers. ACTE itself is striving hard to keep ahead of the curve, by offering more educational forums than ever, and by putting enormous energy into developing meaty, meaningful curricula for our annual members' and global conferences. We're also growing much faster than we dared predict last year at this time. (Then again, who could have predicted last November that we'd have commission caps?) There's never been a better time to join, or become active, in our organization. I'd like to wish a warm welcome to our new members. Join committees, attend forums, make it a priority to come to ACTE VIII in Seattle in February and ACTE Global in Madrid next September. Your participation is key to our our vitality, and just may give you the keys to successfully manage your career.
Armand R. LeCompte 1995 Autumn ACTE Quarterly: President's Message | Demystifying the Internet | International Task Force Report 
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