By Michael Pearsall, P.Eng., CVS, FEC – President, SAVE International
Wow, another successful virtual Value Summit. Thank you to our volunteers and everyone who submitted a paper! I am pleased to see the support and response. I am also happy that SAVE International can continue to pivot and respond in virtual ways. Personally I was very happy with our first Around the World Virtual Value Crawl. It was a long session if, like me, you stayed on for the full 16 hour stretch. However, it was so nice to see greetings from many of our global affiliates and chapters as we moved through the time zones.
This marks my first Value World message as SAVE’s President. It is both an honour and a daunting task to assume the reins of the SAVE Presidency. I have been looking forward to this moment for the past two years, yet I have also been apprehensive about it as I strive to live up to the many great people who have served before me. I am sure everyone asks themselves before assuming the role of president if they are truly worthy of the role and if they can serve SAVE in the best way. I would like to kick things off by talking about a few of the initiatives underway as I take over.
The SAVE Board of Directors has also been trying over the past few years to focus efforts on improvements to education. A large step in that direction was the VM Guide, which Rob Stewart led the delivery of in early 2020. I am pleased to have Rob rejoining the Board, not only for all of the experience he brings, but also to help continue to support the path that was started. Currently, with Renee Hoekstra’s help, we are in the process of setting up an Education Committee. This important new committee will ensure that education, conferences and certification are seamlessly integrated and create content and products that are exciting, relevant, and accessible to the global community. Dave Wilson has also returned to the SAVE Board and he has agreed to be the Director in charge of education. I think this is a great fit and I look forward to getting this committee fully up and running. Together we are going to be making some changes and improvements in the education area to respond and move with the changing times yet continue to support proper use of our core methodology.
Global Affairs is another area where I see an important need for increased focus. Dorine Cleton has been doing some excellent work in changing Global Affairs over the past year and I want to continue to support her in these efforts. Dorine, myself and others have been discussing an important question – Is SAVE a US organization with international interests? Or is it a global organization with US roots? We want to be the latter of the two. To that end, SAVE needs to be more international, we need more of a global focus. Our first Around the World Virtual Value Crawl was a start in this direction. It was not perfect, nothing is the first time we try it, but we had to start somewhere. Here I must pause and give credit again where credit is due. The concept for this came out of the meeting we had with SJVE this past January. The seed was planted and our volunteers jumped in to make it happen. I am happy with the initial feedback; however, we need to do more. Please let Dorine or myself know your ideas of how we can do better to serve all members. We have to be responsive to our members and their global needs.
One thing that 2020 taught me is that we cannot continue to do the status quo. SAVE should be proud of its heritage and the longevity of the methodology we support. However, we also need to continue to grow and evolve or SAVE will cease to be effective. Through 2020, SAVE and our members continued to pivot to respond to the changing world we were presented with. I was inspired by this and it needs to continue. The fact that our Value Summit was again held as an entirely virtual meeting for the second time in SAVE’s history illustrates how we are in an unprecedented, uncertain and constantly changing time.
Adjusting to a new normal is not easy and I truly recognize that you may be uncertain about your business, your family, loved ones and may be thinking, what next? I understand.
I have been thinking lately about Larry Miles and the wartime shortages that led to development of the Value Methodology. Similarly, we were faced with a shortage of being able to meet in-person. As a result, SAVE pivoted our Value Summit to be virtual, we pivoted to produce rules for virtual training, we all switched to virtual workshops, and many more small changes. Yes, I will admit that in many ways I miss traditional workshops and for some projects these work better. However, I have also seen the benefits gained from virtual workshops. I also know there are many other value professionals who are making their own individual and collective efforts to help SAVE’s mission in these changing times, in any way they can. The reality is that the industry will never go back to business as usual, we need both in-person and virtual workshops a part of our toolkit moving forward.
Change is our new normal. The world around us is changing rapidly and the public expects value professionals not just keeping up but leading the way and SAVE should strive to do the same to continue to be the leader in delivering value. I know SAVE can continue to pivot to still be relevant with our current dilemma.
The impact of AI, smart devices and the intense pace of innovation has some of us questioning what else we need to do to continue to promote the value of SAVE. In addition, SAVE may face more disruptions in how it works and how it becomes a better value leader for the future. We need to evolve to reach new markets and new clients and continue to push towards new alliances with other complimentary organizations, an effort we started in 2021 and will continue.
Lastly, I will note the proposed re-branding for SAVE. SAVE cannot be static, we encourage change and innovation when the methodology is used. We need to embrace change at home as well. David Eisenburg is the Director of Marketing & Communications and in charge of this endeavor and will share more details as it evolves.
Finally, I will thank or new Past-President, Renee. It has been 20 years since I was first introduced to her at a SAVE conference. For a few years I would identify her as the fun woman in the red dresses who hands out door prizes. She of course was much more than that. If you know Renee, you know her energy and enthusiasm are contagious. You will also know her commitment and drive for success. I have certainly enjoyed serving the past couple of years as Vice President and look forward to continuing to work closely with her as she moves to her new role as Past President. I know Renee will not fade into the background as there are many important projects we started and she is going to help finish. By now we all know her tag line for the last few years has been “Spread the word, and the word is VM”, a very important task we need to keep doing.
Let me conclude by thanking my colleagues in SAVE across the globe, including the Board and staff, Value Analysis Canada, our affiliate leaders around the globe and all of my other colleagues and friends from the value community and beyond. I truly value your advice, rely on your guidance and remain humble and thankful for your continuing support and trust.
I look forward to working with all of you more in the coming year.
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