Global ISA
ISA IS global! Not going global. Not maybe someday we’ll be global. We ARE global!
This was brought home to me this past week while I was sitting in a District Leadership Conference in New York, on a conference call with people in Canada, and getting e-mails from ISA100 people in China as well as from ISA leaders in Europe setting an agenda for later this month…All at the same time!
Quite often, this may make the most stalwart Member of the Instrument Society of America of old feel a little out of place, or left behind. After all, the founding of ISA was the joining of several local organizations within the US into one organization. The people who worked toward the coalition had the foresight to realize that individually they had value, but collectively their value was significantly greater. Fast forward 60 years—into the information age—where distance and geography don’t mean much…I’m glad that ISA Members long before me recognized the importance of expanding our reach beyond US borders and beyond North America.
Right now, roughly 20% of our membership lies outside of North America. ISA has significant numbers of Members in South America, Europe, and Asia. We have a Director of Global Operations (Tim Feldman) whose address must read C/O United Airlines since he spends more time on planes than at home. We have offices in Brazil and India and we are looking to increase our presence in the emerging markets of South East Asia and China.
Does that make me nervous? No. Am I concerned that this effort at globalization might weaken some perceived power that we as US Members have due to our legacy and location? No. Do I fear that US based support and programs may decline in favor of international activities? NO!
Like the Members back in 1942, who recognized the intrinsic value of belonging to a collective, I believe that sharing ideas, standards, and technical information globally can only improve the world we live in today and the world we will leave behind for future generations. I think about the potential of all those possible Members outside of North America—it’s not getting more members that intrigues me; it’s getting more grey matter working on challenges we see today on the plant floor and in the manufacturing environment. We are no longer limited to asking for help from people who show up to a meeting. We can throw a problem out into cyber-space and have a plethora of people offering potential solutions from anywhere in the world. Because our Members are global, there is nothing we cannot achieve.
No matter the problem—I believe that somewhere, someday there will be a person with a solution. He or she—most likely still a child—is probably on a computer somewhere in the world playing a cyber-game with kids located in different countries, time-zones, and maybe even different planets (you never know!). That “child” and those “kids” don’t get hung up on geography, culture, or time. They probably also assume that the “I” in ISA stands for International…or perhaps even Intergalactic.
This was brought home to me this past week while I was sitting in a District Leadership Conference in New York, on a conference call with people in Canada, and getting e-mails from ISA100 people in China as well as from ISA leaders in Europe setting an agenda for later this month…All at the same time!
Quite often, this may make the most stalwart Member of the Instrument Society of America of old feel a little out of place, or left behind. After all, the founding of ISA was the joining of several local organizations within the US into one organization. The people who worked toward the coalition had the foresight to realize that individually they had value, but collectively their value was significantly greater. Fast forward 60 years—into the information age—where distance and geography don’t mean much…I’m glad that ISA Members long before me recognized the importance of expanding our reach beyond US borders and beyond North America.
Right now, roughly 20% of our membership lies outside of North America. ISA has significant numbers of Members in South America, Europe, and Asia. We have a Director of Global Operations (Tim Feldman) whose address must read C/O United Airlines since he spends more time on planes than at home. We have offices in Brazil and India and we are looking to increase our presence in the emerging markets of South East Asia and China.
Does that make me nervous? No. Am I concerned that this effort at globalization might weaken some perceived power that we as US Members have due to our legacy and location? No. Do I fear that US based support and programs may decline in favor of international activities? NO!
Like the Members back in 1942, who recognized the intrinsic value of belonging to a collective, I believe that sharing ideas, standards, and technical information globally can only improve the world we live in today and the world we will leave behind for future generations. I think about the potential of all those possible Members outside of North America—it’s not getting more members that intrigues me; it’s getting more grey matter working on challenges we see today on the plant floor and in the manufacturing environment. We are no longer limited to asking for help from people who show up to a meeting. We can throw a problem out into cyber-space and have a plethora of people offering potential solutions from anywhere in the world. Because our Members are global, there is nothing we cannot achieve.
No matter the problem—I believe that somewhere, someday there will be a person with a solution. He or she—most likely still a child—is probably on a computer somewhere in the world playing a cyber-game with kids located in different countries, time-zones, and maybe even different planets (you never know!). That “child” and those “kids” don’t get hung up on geography, culture, or time. They probably also assume that the “I” in ISA stands for International…or perhaps even Intergalactic.
posted by ISA at
5:26 PM
1 Comments:
Kim,
Finally I see the Now and the Future of ISA. We cannot look at the original name and say it is IT. We have grown into the International Society that we are today, not by name, but by credibility in the Automation field. We continue to "Set the Standard" in what we do and what we offer to our Members. It is Value.
If anything, we are the "Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society International" at this moment in time. If that will spread to the stars, the Members will be there to support it, but in all we are still ISA.
Regards,
Bart Roberts
Alaska Section Treasurer
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