by Christopher Gray
(Editor’s Note: Letters from the Pennsylvania and Ohio affiliates mentioned in this column are reprinted in their entirety in “Affiliate News.”)
There is a natural phenomenon that is particularly well-known along the Western seaboard of the United States called a tsunami. It is an ocean wave that is typically created by an earthquake. Depending on the magnitude of the earthquake, a tsunami can be anything from barely noticeable to devastating.
In October of this year, the American Council of the Blind was shaken by a kind of earthquake, though of an unspecified magnitude, with the voluntary resignation of our executive director of nearly five years, Charlie Crawford. Those who have worked with or met Charlie Crawford know how strongly he has advocated for the rights of blind people and how well he can communicate the message of what ACB is and who is a part of it. That capacity and spirit came to be a hallmark of strength and an expectation by those of us who have had the pleasure of working with Charlie these past several years. However, whether Charlie’s resignation will result in a tsunami effect, causing ripples or devastating waves for our organization will be known only at some future time. The big difference in a natural tsunami and the one we could experience now is that we have the ability to control and to a large extent forestall possible damages that occur with Charlie’s departure, or for that matter, the departure of any of our professional staff members.
Because we are an organization working arm-in-arm to achieve common goals, changes in our staff at every level inevitably create anxiety and fear among us all about the overall strength of the organization. A personal identification falters and each member of ACB may wonder, even if only for a moment, whether our movement is changing or shifting like desert sands, and whether each of us and all of us will be strong enough to stand against the buffeting waves of change.
I recall with amazing clarity over 20 years later my own personal sadness, anxiety and fear for ACB when Durward McDaniel announced to the board of directors his intention to leave his position as our administrative leader. Until we knew he would be succeeded by another great ACB member and advocate, Oral Miller, and that Oral’s leadership would sustain us on our courses of action for the next 18 years, many in ACB wished for all to remain the same and, somehow, for change to be stopped in its tracks.
Yet we all know how much change drives our personal lives and our whole culture today. Unwanted as it may be, change is a given in our society. Success or failure is often achieved by how we manage that change and by whether or not we accept the changes that occur around us. Later in this message I will tell you some very tangible ways your ACB leaders are dealing with change management right now, and I will also outline some things that can guarantee an equal successor to Charlie Crawford. But first, I’d like to spend a little time honoring and acknowledging Charlie Crawford and his many valuable contributions during his service as our executive director.
The first time I ever saw Charlie Crawford in action that made a lasting impression was when he addressed a state convention of an ACB affiliate. Midway through his banquet address, I turned to Marvelena and told her with considerable enthusiasm: “This guy really gets it about ACB’s message and what we’re trying to do for blind people.” Charlie’s voice is one of strength and resolution.
Charlie has led our organization in a focus on two areas that should be mentioned here, pedestrian safety and descriptive video. There is little doubt that these two issues in particular will always be identified with Charlie and as key contributions during his tenure as executive director to those living in our most urbanized parts of the country.
I received a note from an ACB member that says in part: “We need him. Please do your best to get him back. We are all relying on you to do so. Jo Genit.”
Jo’s comments lead me to some final thoughts in this part of my message. In responding to the idea of “getting Charlie back,” it is my personal belief that Charlie Crawford is not really gone. Yes, there is a change of roles. Choices have been made about the future, and certainly any choice of this kind has a set of consequences for everybody involved. But as has been true with each chief employee of our organization, their involvement with ACB continues.
Durward McDaniel was an active participant and representing attorney for ACB literally until the day he died. As I draft this article, Oral Miller is speaking outside the United States on behalf of the blind internationally. I have little doubt that the same will be true for our most recent executive director in coming years. Rest assured that the board and Charlie discussed his remaining as executive director before his resignation, and that possibility was understood by all of us to be unworkable at the end of those discussions.
In addition to the letter quoted above, I have received a variety of other personal letters, e-mails and telephone calls expressing every emotion imaginable regarding Charlie’s resignation. Some callers embraced change while expressing their best wishes for Charlie and for ACB. Some expressed disappointment, anger and fear for our organization.
Similarly, I have been contacted at the ACB affiliate level with questions and expressions of concern. Based on some of those contacts, two conference call meetings have been held in order to have a dialogue with ACB leaders about present and future work to guarantee the integrity of our organization. After reading Mike Duke’s summary of these meetings, I am confident you will agree that these discussions were extremely positive, productive and beneficial to all of us.
Here are two letters for your consideration. The first comes from the president and board of directors of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind. After outlining some concerns and other introductory material, PCB performs a great service for ACB by listing a series of suggestions they believe would benefit the organization as a whole. Their suggestions are as follows.
“1. Review all policies and practices which govern the board’s and national committees’ relationship with our national office. If these policies and practices are inadequate, and given what has occurred it would seem so, then revise them or develop new ones in their place.
“2. Report on and disseminate these policies and practices at our 2004 national convention.”
It is particularly helpful for our Pennsylvania affiliate to submit positive suggestions on which the board might take action. In addition, it was very heartening to read the first suggestion because the suggestion is in substantial alignment with actions taken by the ACB board of directors at their post-convention meeting in Pittsburgh. The board unanimously agreed to form a committee to review overall office procedures and report back to them with findings and specific recommendations. The lion’s share of work for this review lies in a careful examination of the ACB employee handbook which contains the written policies regulating key procedures, employee benefits, employee conduct, and other aspects of the relationship between ACB as a corporate entity and its employees. Pennsylvania is correct in its estimation that a review and careful update of this document is long overdue.
Let us now turn to a second letter that was received from ACB of Ohio. Ohio poses a question of ACB leadership that I’d like to address.
“Ohio must ask our national leadership: Where are we going and how will you lead us there?”
First, let’s talk about where we are going. There are some underlying assumptions in the question that need to be clarified. Where we are going in 2004 is no different in a pure sense than where we have been going since the inception of the American Council of the Blind in 1961.
Through careful adjustment, organizational direction may shift over a long period of time. But the purposes of ACB have never substantially changed and I don’t expect they will for a very long time. Our legislative agenda is not changing. After all, it is prescribed first by resolution and only then by available national resources. Our magazine is not ceasing to exist. Our programs and services are essentially those of July 2003, July 2002 and prior to that with the addition of those incremental improvements we make over time. We still have a Washington office and maintain our financial center in Minneapolis. The infrastructure of this organization is strong and any belief in its weakening is entirely misplaced. We are going where ACB has always gone: down the path toward improving the world for blind people. The practical realities of how we are getting there may have been slightly altered for a brief period of time, but the path itself does not change.
ACB is a strong and vibrant organization and because our strength comes from all our people, not just one person, we will not lose our way simply because of the transition from one executive director to another. You hold proof of this assertion in your hands as you read this issue of “The Braille Forum.” News Notes still exists and is being overseen with competence, perhaps even a moment of inspiration now and again, by our very capable acting executive director, Melanie Brunson. Frequent updates have been available in the past two months for the Washington Connection which have been welcomed by many ACB members. Our presence on Capitol Hill is still being ably and continually managed by Melanie Brunson and overseen by ACB’s staff assigned to this work. So, you see, not only is the path still here, but we are all marching forward upon it.
Elsewhere in this magazine you will read about ACB public service announcements’ availability on a national basis. These are not the signs of an organization in crisis, but an organization accomplishing its goals and meeting its objectives during and after Charlie’s service to ACB.
Ohio’s second question is “how do we get there.” Inherent in this question is the concern that the ACB board of directors has a specific plan of action to help the organization through a time of transition and consequent change.
I hope that by mentioning only some of the activities in which the board is now engaged I can provide some level of assurance in this regard. Most important, not only does the board have a plan in place, but there is reasonable consensus on how that plan is to be executed. Many pieces of it are already being undertaken by a variety of competent, committed ACB members.
One key element of our plan for the future is, of course, the hiring of a new executive director. We are not significantly redefining the position as some have feared. The board is adhering to the principles laid down in our long-range plan as adopted in 1995. Some principles from that plan could well be expanded and more fully implemented in the coming months, and that is as it should be. Our organization adopted that plan for a reason, and should the board find ways to more fully implement key aspects in the plan that were not previously addressed, so much the better.
A search committee was appointed in October to begin the search/selection process for a new executive director. That committee is chaired by Professor Otis Stephens, former president of our organization. Serving with him are three board members: Ed Bradley, Mitch Pomerantz and myself. Also serving on the committee is Terry Pacheco as a representative from the national office.
As noted above, ACB has an acting executive director, Melanie Brunson. Melanie brings years of specific ACB experience to this position as well as a wealth of experience in legislative activities both with ACB and elsewhere. Melanie began immediately to provide significant guidance and support for the board and certainly many of you will have seen or heard her helpful, professional posts on ACB’s various computer lists.
In addition, the board of directors has engaged a former and very effective employee of our organization, Laura Oftedahl, to assist in her capacity as a professional fund-raiser. Funding continues to be a challenge for our organization and the board has asked Laura to help us find more ways and identify productive ways of increasing our funding base. I firmly believe this will bode well for us in the not-too-distant future.
I hope you can see that by undertaking these specific, concrete actions, the board has a firm idea of where we need to go and what needs to be done in the short term. More can be said about the longer term after our president’s meeting and board meeting in Birmingham February 14-16.
In conclusion, let me tell you a bit more about those tsunami waves. There are actually two kinds of tsunami. One occurs far out in the ocean. It makes small waves, but the waves dissipate to leave the ocean returned to a calm state with the shock absorbed and smoothed by the surrounding water. Only tsunamis that reach the shore grow into powerful destructive waves that destroy coastal towns and drown all that come into their path. Our ACB tsunami can be a ripple for considered change as recommended by Pennsylvania, a rekindling and resetting of focus and purpose as the ripple calms as expressed by Ohio, with any waves being only those of “thank you” to Charlie Crawford for more than four productive years of service as executive director, and of belief in the many successes that lie ahead for the American Council of the Blind as we and Charlie move forward to new possibilities. From change comes strength if we allow it. The embracing of change fosters a destiny of hope and achievement for our organization. Let this time that some fear weakens us serve to strengthen us in moving toward that bright future.