Let me start out my final Blog posting as MPI CEO by thanking my MPI Family -- my management colleagues, our industry partners and our volunteer leaders – for their passionate commitment to MPI. This is the “energy of many” that makes the movement that is MPI so remarkable. It is also this energy that defines MPI more as a truly diverse community and less as a codified organization. And last I checked, communities change the world, not organizations.
As I prepare to embark on my next journey, the question I’ve been frequently asked is “what will you remember the most?” from the past six years. Not an easy question. It has been a time of tumultuous change in our industry – a time where we not only grew our global economic footprint (that’s $Trillion with a “T”) but a time where we realized we needed to expand our scope of vision and figure out how to better tell our story.
But what I will never forget are the remarkable actions of MPI members everywhere who are making a real difference in their local communities by doing, not just talking. And they are legion. They are in Mexico confronting media sensationalism to ensure the REAL story of Mexico’s successful meeting industry gets told (just ask the G20 leaders who were just there). They are in Dallas and Orlando riding Harley-Davidsons to bring toys to kids who only want a reason to believe someone cares. They are in Shanghai introducing college students to what a career in the meetings industry is all about. They are in London implementing a new global standard for event sustainability on the biggest stage in the world, the Olympic Games. They are in Hawaii planting trees to ensure the island paradise has clean air and water for generations to come. And at every opportunity these members glow with the “I am MPI and I love what we do” spirit.
That’s why MPI members everywhere can say with complete conviction “When we meet, we change the world.” It is the MPI relentless sense of purpose that I will remember the most.
And it is why at MPI you can check out any time you like but you can never leave.