Masonry Magazine April 1996 Page. 7
From the President
Donald Grant
President, Mason Contractors Association of America
With sincere appreciation to my fellow contractors and deepest humility I accept the position as your MCAA President. I do so with enthusiasm, mindful of the confidence and trust placed in me, the responsibilities before me, and the high expectations that accompany such an office.
I honestly believe that belonging to the MCAA continues to be the most rewarding organization I have ever belonged to. No other organization do you have the opportunity to meet and work together with owners, architects, engineers, product representatives, lawyers and most of all, my fellow contractors.
Our industry is too diverse and dynamic for any one individual or group to know it all. There is no other organization that meets our needs as businessmen to help us do a better job, than MCAA, both in local chapters and national.
As we begin another era, I feel that there are three areas we need to face if we are going to continue to sustain the atmosphere where valuable exchange of information/education can take place and relationships begin:
I feel it is not only important to grow in membership but to enlist/recruit the new generation of mason contractors and product representatives to bring to our Association new ideas and energy from our membership. With membership we must encourage commitment, stewardship, and leadership.
This year we need to increase the awareness of MCAA throughout the country. Just as individuals within MCAA contribute to our success, so too can MCAA work with other organizations in improving the overall masonry construction industry, i.e.: fellow trade unions BAC/LIUNA, ΑΙΑ, CSI, AGC, ASC, ASA.
We also need to continue to educate our current members as to the new developments and programs being generated by our Association and our various chapters. We need to share with chapters through MCAA the results, of many hours and dollars spent, covering promotion, contract negotiations, training, codes, etc.
We've all heard the old adage, "Build a Better Mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." While the manufacturer of the mousetrap will need more than pure innovation to sell his product, It is added value that really counts. The manufacturer can run all kinds of promotions, but the market place has a way of reducing all products and services to their lowest common denominator-Value. Trade associations are like any business, in that in order to grow, they must return more value to the member than the individual member places on his dues dollar. There are simply too many competing interests for a members dollar to assume otherwise. To compete, organizations are forced to add value by either reducing cost of membership or increasing membership benefits through innovation.
Our association has made this conscious decision to add membership value through innovation, new approaches, new programs and new committees. Fortunately, these decisions were backed up with commitments from a lot of innovative people, our past/present officers and staff. The results of their efforts are in with a 25% increase in membership in the last 2 years.
It is important to me to redefine this association mission. At one time, I believed that our associations' most important purpose was to provide special service and assistance to its members in order to help them succeed on a daily basis. While I still feel this is a vital function, I no longer believe it is our primary mission.
I believe our role must be more than that of a business adjunct. Our membership must look beyond the imme-