Share“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
— John Donne
One thing for sure is that every association executive, be they national, state, or local, knows that getting the job done requires a cooperative effort on all our parts. No other job, except maybe symphony conductor, is as collaborative as that of an AE.
Speaking of which, at the May REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C., the National Association of REALTORS® formalized a cooperative relationship with the Council of MLSs to create more collaborative overlap between our two organizations. Notable is the inclusion of CMLS members on the Association Executives Institute Advisory Board.
The AEC leadership has been appointing MLS executives to the Advisory Board for the last few years, so this new policy aligns nicely with our practice. Like I said, AEs know cooperation yields the best results.
The agreement also pledges that the two organizations will work together to give input to the Upstream and Advanced Multilist Platform projects and jointly propose a game-changer program for MLSs similar to what was done for local associations.
In general, the announcement was met with a resounding “It’s about time” or “You don’t already do this?” Yes, it is about time and yes, we do much of this already.
Meanwhile, state and local associations have been working on our own best practice models for cooperation, referred to as Core Standards 2.0. We are now entering our third cycle of Core Standards. With this new cycle, state associations have become even better at working with locals to ensure they are the most effective and accomplished they can be.
On a personal note, as the current AEC chair, it was my honor and privilege to present the Core Standards changes to the NAR Board of Directors in D.C. Talk about butterflies and stage fright. This was my first time presenting on the big stage. Eleven motions, one at a time; each one passed.
Without a doubt, my favorite moment was being able to recognize my dear friend Andrea Bushnell, AE for North Carolina, as the 2016 William R. Magel Award recipient.
Watching 700 people come to their feet to celebrate Andrea’s selection made me proud to be a “piece of the continent” we call NAR.