“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” this is the opening sentence from “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens. But you may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with CSI, construction or the internet? Everything and nothing, as I reflect on when I became in Institute Director 10 years ago (yep, July 1, 2006) it was a trial by fire and the boards first attempt to do a comprehensive revision to governance and its bylaws.

When I joined the board, I was at the height of my CSI experience. It was good times for me, but for CSI, we were in a membership ‘recession’ for the previous 5+ years. It was time to realize that the way we were doing things was not working. The construction industry and technology were changing at an alarming rate but CSI was not changing. As a board, we took some very bold steps and put on the ballot some very radical ideas to reform the board structure and the bylaws. Unfortunately, the membership wasn’t ready for the sweeping changes proposed. However, the board listened to the membership kept the ideas that the membership could support and the next year these changes were on the ballot. At the time, the largest change was reducing the size of the board from 29 to 18. Good news was the membership recognized the need for these sweeping changes and vote passed.

Fast forward 10 years later and the institute board is asking the membership to vote on some major revisions to the bylaws. As I sifted through the changes, there wasn’t anything major or radical. A very quick summary is outlined below:

• Drop the 2 Vice Presidents
• Change the name of President & President-Elect
• Revise Director terms from 2 years to 3 years
• Align and simplify the duties of the Secretary and Treasurer
• Cleanup some other miscellaneous language

I could go into more detail on these and other revisions, but the institute website does an excellent job. Just visit http://www.csinet.org/bylawsreferendum. Are these revisions perfect? Are they what I would do? The answer to both of these questions in my opinion is “probably not”. But even the first time I read through them I was excited to see another step in right direction. I learned 10 years ago from an excellent mentor Gary Betts, the first step is to remove the emotional attachment to the ‘legacy’ and focus on what is best for CSI.

I had the privilege to sit in on presentation by Mark Dorsey and Lane Beougher to the Fellows. There was a lot of stats and analogies presented. The biggest eye opener was for the past 16 years; we have lost almost 50% of our membership. While there have been several reason and couple of spikes of membership loss. This is not a sustainable business model by any means. One of my favorite analogies used in the presentation, is the “When you get in taxi, you tell the driver to take you to the airport. You don’t tell him the step by step directions”. The institute board is caught in the trap of wanting to give the directions and not the destination. The Institute board just needs to set the destination and let the core work together in finding the best route.

Could have these culture changes come about with just policy changes. Once again probably (and probably not). I came up with my own analogy related to ‘football’. For CSI, it is 4th down and 20, deep in the defenses territory. Will this change get us to 1st down and goal? I don’t think so, but it is better than punting and gives us a chance to at least get us a 1st down and keep on the offense. This change is a good first step in making a wise choice and changing the culture of CSI at the leadership level.

I was asked to put my name on a YES vote. After careful thought and reflectance, I know I can support these Bylaw revisions. This is the statement: "As current and former CSI leaders, we believe the proposed updates/revisions to the Institute's policies and Bylaws are essential steps in our efforts to strengthen CSI and chart a course to gain new members and re-energize programs. We support the CSI Board of Directors forward-thinking outlook to create a better, more valuable CSI for you. When you are asked to choose, we urge you to join us in voting 'YES.'"

I encourage every member to look at these proposals and ask yourself, is this worth a YES vote? Is this first step worth the change? Is it better to do nothing and continue down the path we are on? Looking for a place to discuss this? please visit our very own CSINext discussion groups at http://www.csinext.org/discussions/have-you-seen-the-new-bylaw-proposal It is my understanding that the ballots for this vote will be sent out on May 5th. When you receive it, I can only hope you see these measures as a healthy first step and support them.