Jeff DeCagna of the Association Innovation blog asked me to write about what it's like to be a newly-minted CAE. Specifically, he wonders if my view of work or the association community has changed at all and if it has changed, is the shift in perspective due to newly attained knowledge or something more intangible? Well, Jeff...
First of all, receiving a passing grade on the CAE exam (and with it the right to put those three little letters after my name) was an instantaneous, transformational event, but the process of acquiring the knowledge and experience needed to be successful on the exam was more evolutionary. I guess preparing for the CAE exam is like saving for retirement. You invest for many years, relatively unaware that the investments are compounding, and one day you discover you've earned a fortune.
At work, I once considered some of our activities to be ritualistic. Now I feel like I have a more thorough understanding of the association's activities and policies -- I understand the 'why' behind what we do. As a less experienced manager, I didn't fully understand why we did things in a certain way. Now having combined my experience with the reading, it has all come together.
I'll write more on this topic in the coming days.
January 30, 2005
How does it feel?
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2 comments:
Ben,
Saw you were on the Emerging Leaders community and then was directed to your blog, which I had to go and create one. I am totally new to the blog thing, but hey it seems really interesting and somewhat simple.
I loved your comments!! I couldn't agree more!!
Hey, Jim. Thanks for stopping by. Congrats to you, too!
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