Follow along as our new ACC President and CEO, Veta T. Richardson, chronicles her first year at ACC, with this monthly blog series. The voice, views and stories expressed in this series are of the author and are not ACC’s.
"Week 1: Like trying to sip water from a fire hose."
As I was preparing to move to ACC from MCCA, where I worked for more than a decade, several trusted advisors had warned me that the early days would be pretty intense. There will be so many new things to learn; people to meet and demands on my time. And they were right. It’s exciting, exhausting and exasperating all at the same time!
It has also been a little emotional, perhaps more so than I expected. I cannot help but miss the great people I used to work with and the sense of security you feel in a job that you had mastered. There are also the practical aspects of being somewhere new — like figuring out the best route to work, where to grab a good sandwich and how to navigate an unfamiliar setting.
Starting over makes you humble as you admit again and again that you need help to figure things out. It also makes you especially appreciative of the little things that colleagues do to help you feel a bit more comfortable and welcome. So, thank you for introducing me to the deli around the corner and for the tip that the ice tastes fresher from the machine in the back kitchen than from the trays in the freezer. For you, these suggestions were no big deal, but for me, they are first steps toward feeling acclimated.
I also feel like starting over this time comes with really high expectations — much of them my own, many others from the ACC Board and my new staff. My own expectations stem from the fact that I am not totally new to ACC. I started my legal career as member of the association and worked on the ACC staff for almost four years before leaving to become executive director of MCCA. As a result, I feel intent on hitting the ground running even though I have to stop to remind myself that the most important thing is charting the roadmap for the course. The best way to do that is to take time to listen and learn from others. I’ve done a whole lot of that these first few days; in fact, my new office should have a revolving door, as several days the appointments were back to back to back. I haven’t been this popular in quite some time, and it has been great!
For me, the planning and strategizing has always been the fun part, the part that I so relish and enjoy. So I am excited that ACC is embarking on the development of a new strategic plan to guide the association’s next phase of leadership and growth. Right now, we have selected a consultant to work with us, and a small task force of ACC members will be assembled to serve as sounding boards and advisors. The effort will involve every member of the ACC staff and entail collection of lots of data and feedback from our membership to determine how to best serve their needs, now and in the future.
Stay tuned for more details as I intend to use this blog to let you know how my transition is going and keep you informed as we begin this next chapter at ACC.