"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to purse them."
Walt Disney
In 1924 our organization's fonder, Dr. Ralph Smedley, had a dream. His dream, which has stood the test of time, was "To afford practice and training in the art of public speaking." While describing his dream, Dr. Smedley said, "Ours is the only organization I know that is dedicated to the individual." From that simple dream 74 years ago, our organization has evolved into the greatest organization in the world devoted to making effective oral communication a reality. Today, with 175,000 members in approximately 65 countries, our volunteer members in Toastmasters have made Dr. Smedley's dream come true.
Successful organizations begin with a dream, a simple idea, or thought. The Coca-Cola Company's founder, Dr. John Pemberton, formulated Coca-Cola syrup in 1886 and sold it at the fountain counter of Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. The Disney Corporation Founder, Walt Disney, built his company on the premise of a simple thought, "If you can dream it, you can do it." Toastmasters, Coca-Cola, and Disney remain at the forefront of their Industries today for a simple reason: They focus on their founders' dreams.
If Toastmasters is going to continue being the global leader in communication in the next millennium, we must continue to focus on Dr. Smedley's dream - service to our members. We must have an attitude that places our members' interests at the center of all we do. And what is it that our members want from Toastmasters? The answer is found in asking members why they joined their Toastmasters Club. Dan dreamed of overcoming his speech impediment and became a District speech contest winner. Ron dreamed of overcoming his fear of public speaking and, after delivering his Ice Breaker three times, went on to serve as District Governor. Tina dreamed of improving her skills as a professional speaker, and today her business is booming. What do these Toastmasters all have in common? They first had a dream, and then they focused on it.
During my 15 years in Toastmasters, I have had the privilege of talking
with many successful members. Why are they successful? They focus on
their goal, the dream they had when they joined Toastmasters. That why I
have chose for the 1998-99 Presidential Theme:
To allow each individual member to focus on their dreams, our leaders of
today and tomorrow must focus on providing service to our members. Club,
District, and international leaders must be committed to providing
consistent service. McDonald's Corporation has been extremely successful
because of its consistent delivery of customer service throughout the
world. Like McDonald's, we must set specific service standards to ensure
that our product is delivered in a consistent manner. From Auckland to
Oakland, members should receive consistent service, allowing them to
focus on accomplishing their dreams.
Our success as an organization is directly related to our volunteer leaders. Our leaders of the past 74 years have laid a strong foundation for us to follow. It is now our turn to accept the torch of leadership and continue the strong legacy of our past leaders. How do we continue that legacy with increasing time constraints of work and family activities? By focusing. Several business studies, citing Vilfredo Pareto's 80/20 rule, state "managers spend only 20% of their time to complete 80% of their work." The moral of the story is that we as leaders must concentrate on the critical few tasks rather than the trivial many.
At the Club level, our leaders must focus on serving the individual member. Club leaders must focus on every member moving through the manual and achieving an educational goal, and they must focus on constantly seeking new members. As a Club officer, focus on your dream of being a Distinguished Club because that is the measure of whether the customer is being served.
At the District level, our leaders must focus on helping Clubs serve the individual member. District leaders must focus on the critical success factors of new Clubs, members, and educational completions. As a district leader, focus on your dream of being Distinguished because that is the measure of whether our Clubs are being served.
At the international level, Toastmasters must focus on helping Districts help Clubs, International leaders must focus on setting service standards and ensuring they are consistently being delivered throughout the world. As an international leader, focus on your dream of every District being Distinguished because that is the measure of success for our organization.
Our dream for the future must be to provide consistent quality service to our members. Our challenge is to become the McDonald's of the communications world by offering the same quality service to our members, no matter where they are in the world. Our present calls for meeting this dream, our success in the future demands it.
Together we can make Dr. Smedley's timeless dream come true for future generations of Toastmasters if, as leaders and members, you FOCUS ON YOUR DREAMS