Program from the BBRC meeting of August 27, 2010
Editor: Tom Smith
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Assistant District Governor Chris Boland of the Woodinville Rotary Club introduced District 5030 Governor John and his wife, Mary Ellen. Chris noted that John retired after a 20-year career in the Navy and is currently the Vice President of Human Resources at Costco.

John opened by complimenting the BBRC on our celebration of 25 years of Service Above Self in our local community and abroad. He pointed out that BBRC "gets it," and that this club is hitting well on all cylinders. Emphasizing RI President Ray Klinginsmith's motto, "Building communities and bridging continents," John stated that the BBRC has been delivering well on that theme.

He then challenged us as Rotarians to take our service to a new level. His inspirational message compared the cultures of Costco and Rotary, pointing out we have much in common. As President Ray has stated, "We are along the path, but is it enough?" Ray wants each of us to do whatever we can to become "bigger, better, bolder."

John used Costco's "salmon story" to help us set our sights higher. The salmon story occurred in reality, but it has become a metaphor for what makes Costco tick: perfection is unattainable, but the pursuit of excellence is a worthy goal.

Costco didn't always sell salmon, and when it began, it annually sold only two million pounds. The teamwork between Costco buyers and vendors improved the quality and drove lower and lower prices. As a result, Costco now sells about 130 million pounds of salmon annually, and at about one quarter less cost. The point of John's story is that people always assume that the way it is now is the way it always was. Costco was proud of performance in 1995; they were proud of increases performance again in 1998. But, their attitude is that they can always make it better, regardless of whether the task is delivering salmon, building better employee benefits, or the myriad of other challenges of a modern business.

John's message to the BBRC is that the salmon story can be the success story for Rotary clubs.

There is a commonality between Costco and Rotary: Both bring in people because of their quality of character, not for their specific skills. Both organizations are decentralized: there is no other club exactly like the BBRC. While each Rotary club is united in "Service Above Self" and President Ray's motto, we each have a different culture. Both organizations operate on a "family" basis, which speaks volumes about why people stay with the organization. We grow our leaders from within. We teach people — we don't put new members on the fast track to president. Instead, we teach them the ropes of the organization and how to lead, and then we select them for the key positions.

He set out three challenges for Rotary presidents and their clubs: membership development, increasing Rotary Foundation participation, and teaching Rotary members more about Rotary to increase their effectiveness.

John pointed out that 4 out of 10 Rotarians have been in Rotary five years or less. For that reason, it is absolutely essential that we spend time developing the people behind us. While we do that, club presidents need to build on to those things that might be their clubs' "salmon stories."

John emphasized the need to maintain and grow Rotary membership. When disaster strikes, Rotarians are the first to respond, and we stay to help long after the cameras and press are gone. Our only limit is that there are only 1.2 million of us. Three of the top ten natural disasters of the last 100 years occurred in the last six years. Rotarians are part of the solution. Rotarians are working for clean water solutions, as well as solutions to diseases such as polio, malaria, and AIDS.

How much more could we do if we had two or three million members instead? Rotary embraces challenges. Growing Rotary is how we get over the limitations of our current capability.

From 1905 to 1925, membership in Rotary doubled every year. From 1925 to 1995, Rotary continued to grow at a steady pace. From 1995 to 2005, membership worldwide declined every year. However, during three of our nation's most challenging economic periods – both World Wars and the Great Depression – Rotary grew. During this economically challenging time, Rotary membership is in decline.

In District 5030, membership has leveled off — we have remained at 3300 members for about six years. This year, our challenge is to break out of the current mold and embrace a multi-year approach.

John pointed out that in a study of successful corporations, those that had five consecutive years with sustained increases in profitability in every fiscal quarter were those most likely to remain profitable in the next quarter. In District 5030, there are no clubs with five years of successive growth. Out of 55 clubs, only 10 have four years of continuous growth. The challenge for this year is how can clubs transition to membership strategies that will provide sustained multi-year success?

John's second of three challenges is to increase support of the Rotary Foundation. Again, John was quick to point out that the BBRC is a club that "gets it." We have excellent performance, both on a percentage of membership metric, as well as per capita foundation contributions. However, like the "salmon story," we can challenge ourselves to do even better.

Last year Rotary distributed $115 million on things other than Polio Plus. What could we do if we had $200-$300 million available?

The District participation is in Rotary Foundation currently 55% — we need to continuously strive to work closer to 100%.

Governor John's third challenge is to have all Rotarians learn more about how Rotary works so we can all be more effective in our service. He then plugged District 5030's Rotary Academy. He complimented BBRC – we have nine graduates and eight more already signed up for the coming year. This is a relatively painless way to learn – there are seven online modules and more coming after next year. Rotarians have total flexibility on how to complete the course – they can either do it individually online or in small group study for those who prefer more fellowship.



To recognize graduates and emphasize the importance of the Rotary Academy, graduate pins are now available and will be presented to the BBRC graduates soon.

As another avenue for learning, John put in a plug for the District Conference. Not only is it an excellent forum for fellowship, it represents an outstanding place to learn more about Rotary. As an incentive for more to attend, Costco is awarding cash cards – there will be drawings — and there will be one $250 cash card awarded for every 25 people who sign up to attend.

In closing, John said he is inspired by the work of the BBRC, and we indeed inspire others around the world.

District Governor Q&A: