I don’t know whose idea it was to start the “President’s meetings,” but I think it was a good one. The idea, as I understood it, was for UCO president Dave Israel to meet every so often with a handful of association presidents, giving them an opportunity in an informal setting to ask questions and voice their opinions. I had the picture of this being almost like a “fireside chat” time with the boss, especially geared for the less active association representatives who knew little of the ropes.
A couple of weeks ago, Avis Blank called me and said time had been set aside for me and several others to meet with Dave on Friday, October 28. (Who can refuse Avis? She is a charmer.) We met, and it was a good time, informative, with a number of questions asked and answered.
It wasn’t quite what I expected, though. I expected a time with the several of us alone with Dave. Instead, there were other UCO personnel in attendance, including all the vice presidents, and they did a lot of the talking. It may have been helpful to have “answers from the whole staff” available to the small group of us, but I felt something more important was lost: the sense of an intimate session with the UCO president. If I had been a new association president struggling with my duties, I would have found the session intimidating. It was the difference between having a friendly chat with the C.E.O. and appearing before the whole board of directors.
I appreciate the vice presidents and others taking time out to attend, but I think the better format would be “just with the UCO president” for these sessions.
