Where is Rotary going? Into the future.

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925 and the Academy Award for best-written screenplay in 1939. Shaw is said to have replied to the question, "Where is Rotary going?" by saying, "Rotary is going to lunch." That was in Rotary's early days some 100 years ago.?

There have always been and still are critics of Rotary. That's okay, because in many points of criticism an opportunity for further development can be found. I would like to give you a few suggestions today with this impulse.?

First, a quiz - inspired by Past Rotary International President Mark Maloney:??

Here are five different stories about Rotary clubs. How many of them do you think describe actual Rotary clubs and how many are made-up stories??

Number 1

The Rotary Club of Moonlight Village meets on the first Friday of each month at 6 am to foster friendship. Members sometimes bring their families or friends. Every third Thursday they meet to discuss their current project. If they don't have a project, they discuss needs in the area that they could address and ideas from members on how to do that. Sometimes the Thursday meeting is cancelled because members are working on the service project. They never have formal meetings with presentations or meals. Members attend when they have time and feel like it, but no attendance records are kept.

Number 2

The Rotary Club of Willow Tree has only 10 members in the traditional sense. It also has five so-called corporate members and three family members, all with different membership experiences. Family members are welcome and members sometimes bring colleagues and friends when extra assistance is needed with club projects. Corporate members are companies where several employees take turns representing their company at club meetings to introduce new people to Rotary. Together, they do good in their small town.

Number 3

The Rotary Club of Foy Trail Art Institute is made up entirely of Art Institute employees. Therefore, they are able to hold their club meetings on Wednesdays during lunch. The members all belong to the same classification, i.e., the same professional category, but are diverse in their professional experience, age, gender, ethnic background, and perspective.

Number 4

The Rotary Club of Young Blood has 40 members, all under the age of 35. The club president is 29 years old and the youngest member is 19. None of the members are in high leadership positions and many are just starting their careers. They come from completely different professions and backgrounds. They have a lot of fun and try out different leadership roles, gain new skills, and use their shared passion and individual skills to solve problems in the community.

Number 5

The Rotary Club of Clandon serves all of Fort County. The club has developed its own category for itself and even its own logo entirely, somewhat reminiscent of a Superman emblem. “Impact clubs” meet only for service projects. Members "go in, do service, and go home." No lectures, no meals, no minutes, no meetings at all. Impact clubs use a dedicated website that provides a quick and easy way for members to record service hours performed, convert donations to service hours, submit service photos, and schedule their next service mission through a service calendar.

So those were the five examples. And you get to guess: How many of the examples do you think are actually real Rotary clubs?

The resolution in 5 seconds …

4 …

3 …

2 …

1 …

… So let's get to the resolution: All five examples are real Rotary Clubs.?

(This inspiring quiz was played by 2019/2020 RI President Mark Maloney with us District Governors Elect at the 2019 International Assembly in San Diego.)

As you can see, Rotary is trying out new, additional ways as we move into the future. In doing so, you can say that there are some things that are perhaps unfamiliar to us.?But one accusation that I keep hearing lightly from Rotarians is definitely unfounded: that Rotary is not innovative. Rather, the limits are in our minds, because Rotary is much more dynamic than most of us think.??Now, one could blame Rotary for this, namely that we don't realize how innovative Rotary International is. But this accusation doesn't hold water either. If we open our eyes and take a close look at the website of Rotary International, it quickly becomes clear: the information is there, it is for the most part excellently prepared, even in many different languages, but perhaps we have not yet paid enough attention to it.?

I would like to suggest to all of you to look beyond the horizon of your club. Because if you define Rotary only in terms of your own club, you are missing out on an incredible amount. Rotary is inspiring, Rotary is diverse, Rotary is international. And Rotary is dynamic.?I know you can't say that about every club. Some are very stuck in their traditions. But for me, that is part of diversity and should be respected. It has long been clear to me that the best way to counter static clubs is to form new clubs.?Changing entrenched clubs takes too much energy. I learned in my studies that people only change something when the pressure of suffering is too high. Therefore, let's just leave the static clubs we may have to think about now as they are and take care of ourselves.?

Or are we perhaps such a static club ourselves?

I would like to leave that to each and everyone to judge for themselves. For my part, I know exactly where I would start to further develop my own club (see below). We cannot ask George Bernard Shaw what his vision for Rotary would be today.?But I'm sure many Rotarians have great ideas about how we should move into the future. And I can't wait to hear them.

Thank you.?

Rotary International

How this article came about: When the president of my Rotary club announced a meeting to discuss possible ways forward on the occasion of our club's 15th anniversary, I offered to give a short keynote address. My goal was to encourage the members of my club to think outside the box. As a hook, I used a method that then RI President Elect Mark Maloney had inspired me with at “my” International Assembly as a DGE a few years ago: a quiz. I took four of his questions and added a new one. As expected, the results were quite varied. Some members thought two examples were correct, some three or four; but most had the right hunch and guessed that all five examples were correct. From this, we could see that many of my club’s members were already able to imagine that Rotary is quite innovative. And as I mentioned: Rotary is so much more than just your club. It is international. The cover picture of this article shows my wife Tanja and me with our dear friends Reena, Deepak, Douglas and Kasonde, whom we had the pleasure to meet at the International Assembly and also before at the wonderful homestay program in Sarasota. Friends for life.?

My personal vision for my Rotary Club

(this text was not part of the presentation but I added it to the meeting notes)

First of all: I am very happy to be a member of our club. Nevertheless, through my activities in Rotary International, I have become acquainted with very many ideas that have inspired me. Therefore, this vision is not meant as criticism, but as free thinking without the urgent desire for change.?

So, here comes my vision:

We are not a donation club only. Projects with a lot of Hands On determine our actions, because we are "People of Action". Donation clubs, however, are an important part of the Rotary world and from time to time we rely on these clubs. So we value both models - and everything in between.?

We have almost no meetings in restaurants, only on certain occasions. Food we cook ourselves from time to time, often we don't eat at all. We meet in suitable offices of our members, but also in other places. The hybrid technology is already set up there ready to go.?

The cost of membership is relatively low, but it already includes everything: food and drink at the cooking meetings for the entire Rotary year, no matter how often you attend, Rotary dues, EREY, EPN, and a basic contribution to cover the cost of your own projects.?

We meet every two weeks (hybrid) plus in between to on-site appointments with local and regional aid organizations and other stakeholders, to which the contact is worthwhile in the sense of local helping. We rarely have presentations and then only contextually motivated: on projects, on interests, to cultivate friendship.?

We are a diverse club and proactively seek to unite people from different backgrounds with us. That's why we keep dues low and also offer club scholarships.?

We engage in active, professional and systematic public relations with maximum efficiency. In doing so, we radiate joy and dynamism. Our public image is very important to us and we all have the same elevator pitch ready to present a consistent image to interested parties.?

We all know the world of Rotary very well and like to communicate proactively. In doing so, we respect and value other club models. We do not have the one true answer, but one of many. Positive messages are our credo.?

We do not keep attendance records. Because we talk about the right to be present, not the obligation. Those who don't show up and still pay on time are welcome, as long as we feel a connection. Deadbeats are not given time by us and are allowed to live their existence as passive Rotarians. Because our time is much better invested in the members who are there.?

Internally we communicate sparingly, but reliably. No minutes of meetings, no extensive detailed discussions via the internal club chat, but quick and reliable answers to surveys. It is a sign of appreciation that all members respond to a survey once a week. At the same time, it is also appreciative to be frugal with members' time and attention and to design appropriately clever polls. We have separate channels for birthday wishes and gossip.?

We learn from the best. This includes the German Rotaractors, whom we treat with great appreciation, as we do the Interactors.?

We are agile and let good ideas for improvements flow into our club life. What makes sense today may be outdated tomorrow. We keep a close eye on what Rotary International is testing and developing in terms of innovations. After all, our club model has only become possible because of this innovative power.?

Jan Mittelstaedt, as of December 2022

#rotary #rotaryinternational #rotaryclub #innovation