Imperfect harmony
Remember that old jingle from Coke, “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony?” Well, the U.S. is still hitting a sour note internationally, according to an anonymous association exec on View from a Corner Office: In the Glass, Darkly. While at an international meeting of his/her association’s profession, s/he found:
- “In this particular federation the animus toward the United States is so pronounced that for the first time in the federation’s history, all U.S. delegates for office toppled in defeat. If it’s possible to be stunned but not surprised, that was our reaction. At the same time the federation issued a ballot asking member nations to support a dues overhaul that would increase the U.S. share by 8,000%. That is not a typo.”
And if that increase forced the U.S. association to drop out of the international federation, “so be it,” s/he was told. This is a sad state of events for anyone who holds meetings internationally, or invites international attendees, as well as for the world in general.
Especially when it comes up in the association community, which is one place where I (naively, perhaps) believe that we can put aside our political issues and focus on the things we share in common. According to this blogger, we can’t afford to blind ourselves to the relationship between the personal (our associations, our professions), and the political.
I knew it was bad when I heard from someone who was at the Olympics’ opening ceremonies that the entire stadium booed the American team as they entered. I just didn’t know it was this bad.
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