Masonry Magazine October 1998 Page. 7
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Many times in our lives we are faced with grave decisions to be made. Whether they are in our personal lives or professional business lives, we are forced to make tough decisions, the hard call, the choice that no one wants to make. Decisions that leaders must make almost on a daily basis. Most of us have the luxury to sit back and let the decisions be made by someone else and then second guess them well after the decision was made and the outcome has been determined. How many of us have armchair quarterbacked a football game or a decision made by a politician? Probably most of us have.
Unfortunately, we have been faced with a tough decision within the masonry industry. One that some will pontificate could further divide the masonry industry and throw us back to the 1950's. The issue is the impending breakup of MASONRY EXPO, an industry trade show that was formed back in 1990 in hopes of unifying the industry and providing a promotional vehicle for the masonry industry. The MCAA Executive Committee has elected to withdraw from MASONRY EXPO after the Orlando Show. The EXPO has failed to bring the industry together in the manner that its founders had hoped. Only three of the eight industry associations that originally founded EXPO have held significant meetings at MASONRY EXPO. Today, only MCAA, NCMA and TMS hold meetings at EXPO. The rest are in name only. In fact, many of the other sponsoring associations don't even have their top elected officers attend EXPO. Yet the mere thought that the MCAA would withdraw from MASONRY EXPO
Out of Adversity Comes Opportunity
Donald Larsen
President, Mason Contractors
Association of America
has prompted many to cry out that the breakup of EXPO is tantamount to destroying the masonry industry. After all, are we really breaking up an industry show when the majority of the sponsors are in name only?
The MCAA Executive Committee ultimately voted to withdraw from MASONRY EXPO because of a deep belief that the show was not being managed effectively and our desire to manage the show. We were not afforded the opportunity to manage the EXPO and its future, leaving us with little choice. The MCAA Executive Committee believed when we made the decision to withdraw MCAA from EXPO that what really has brought us together, as an industry was not EXPO, but instead a strong need to unite to address greater industry issues such as research, codes & standard development, technical issues, promotional issues and even manpower development and to compete more effectively against construction methods such as tilt-up. Our removal from MASONRY EXPO has not removed the MCAA from contact with the balance of our industry. We are still intricately involved with our industry partners in MACS, CMR, MSJC, Wall Bracing Council and the Masonry Industry Council.
We believe that the MCAA will offer a strong show, not just to mason contractors that attend and our suppliers who will exhibit, but to the entire masonry industry. We have asked our industry partners such as TMS, Brick Industries Association, National Lime Association, Expanded Shale Clay Slate Institute and the Portland Cement Association to partner with us as sponsors of THE MASONRY SHOW. We are even asking NCMA to join with us in this new endeavor. NCMA should consider our offer to join us and avoid their current path of moving their association toward partnering with the precast industry in a joint show with National Precast Concrete Association. A move that they are actively pursuing and one which may be popular with many of NCMA's exhibitors but one that is highly detrimental to the masonry industry.
During this difficult time of moving the MCAA show in a different direction, the MCAA officer group has taken many unfounded, anonymous, cheap shots at our motives. It has been difficult to remain proactive and not lash back. A fellow MCAA officer offered the following observation. He said that it's just like a pro athlete mired down in a major contract dispute holding out for a better deal. The athlete gets crucified by the media and fans. But when the season starts and he runs for a thousand yards or scores the winning three-point basket to win the championship, no one remembers the turmoil at the beginning of the season, they just remember the success at the end. We must keep the faith that we will be successful.
I realize that it's easy to second-guess, armchair quarterback and doubt the decisions we made. It's easy for some to take the utopian position and expound how it's for the greater good to keep MASONRY EXPO together at all costs. It's convenient to keep your head in the sand and hope that the tough decisions go away. We don't like to have to make this decision. It's the tough call. But in the end it's the right call.