Givers Gain

Words: Jeff Buczkiewicz, Paul Odom, Michael Sutter Michael Sutter, MCAA Chairman

It’s only a couple of weeks before our convention at World of Concrete/World of Masonry and there is still time (but not much) to make a room reservation and plan on attending our convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 21 - 26. Beside the meetings and networking events there is also Masonry Madness on Wednesday. If you not seen it yet, you will agree that this event alone is worth the trip to Vegas! With this being my last article as we change officers in January, I want to take a moment to say thank you to all our members who trusted me to head our association for the last two years. Together we are stronger and we have accomplished some great things including leading the nation in silica training across the country, legislative accomplishment in DC, taking over and improving Masonry magazine, nearly completing our BIM-M initiative with our partners, growing our Foundation, amazing membership growth and continuing our focus on workforce development. Paul Odom will be our new Chairman and there is no doubt that he is ready and willing to take over. He will do a fine job for us and will always put our members first when making decisions for us all. I also want to thank our Executive Officers, Regional VPs, State Chairmen, Committee Chairmen and our Past Chairmen for all their help. Our industry is stronger because of each of you. Additionally, I want to send a big thank you to Jeff Buczkiewicz and our staff for all their hard work and dedication. They are really the people that do most of the work for our association and they are very good at what they do. I have been asked many times over the last 8 years if investing the time and money to help lead the MCAA has been worth it and if I would do it again if I had it to do over again. There is a school of leadership development that I and many of my family, friends, coworkers and other MCAA members have attended called Rapport Leadership International. One of the sayings they teach is “Givers Gain”. This is meant that you will receive back many times more than you give. I have tried to follow this motto in both my personal and professional life. How easy it would be to sit back and let someone else do the work and invest their own time and money to better our industry. How easy it would be to let someone else spend time with high school students, apprentices, fly across the country to attend industry meetings and lobby in both our State and in Washington, DC. While I can’t say that sometimes it wasn’t tiresome, expensive and took a toll on my family and business, I can say that it was absolutely worth every hour and every dime I invested in it! There were great accomplishments made in our industry both at the State and national level and I am proud to say that I was part of it. So when asked to help out our Industry, please say yes and you will find that you gain much more than you gave and always remember that “Givers Gain”. Thank you for the honor to serve as the MCAA Chairman and from my family to yours, we wish you and your families a happy healthy and prosperous New Year.

Givers Gain

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