Are We Good Administrators?
by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Welcome to the October 2021 Editorial. In the past few years, October has always been about getting ready for the industry’s annual trade show. Exhibitors would be checking over their booths and equipment samples and getting it all packed up for the show. Travel companies would be putting the final touches on their brochures, catalogs and marketing pieces to showcase their show specials for the onslaught of Retail Travel Buyers to come. All that has changed. This year we are not only preparing for our customers who are going to the show but we are also preparing for our customers who will not be in attendance. Why is all this happening?

Before you jump to the conclusion and say that it is all the fault of the covid pandemic, allow me to give you my humble opinion. It’s not the fault of the covid pandemic. It is our fault for not managing the situation correctly. In life, we are all faced with challenges and obstacles. It is up to us to be good administrators and correctly deal with the situation at hand. After all, we are the Good Stewards of our company’s resources and must do everything within our limitations to complete a successful outcome set by the goals and objectives of our company.

In the past two blogs and editorials I talked about your purpose in business and whether or not you were being truthful to that purpose, or calling. Shortly after writing those two articles about purpose, I was introduced to a book by Dan Stallbaum entitled, Positioning For Breakthrough. Dan talks about how successful administrators manage their companies, direct their people, govern activity, while being a good steward and responsibly managing the company resources. I was blown away.

I have always talked about the importance of the business of diving. While people in your diving company need to be doing the things that your company does, i.e. teaching diving, selling gear, taking divers out diving, and keeping divers active, someone has to be running the business. It’s like that in every business, regardless of the type of business you’re in. Someone has to work in the business and someone has to work on the business. Pastor Dan even talked about Church Administrators who must be responsible for running the church and correctly and honestly administrating the resources entrusted to them by the congregation. All that administrating has to be done while the Pastors and Ministers are doing the work their church was built for.

Same thing in the diving industry. We belong or do business with a company because we want them to do certain things for us. We expect them to achieve certain outcomes for us, like building products, or creating and maintaining dive destinations, or running a consumer or trade event. We entrust them with our time, money and manpower and we expect they will work on our outcomes and administer our resources honestly and professionally. In the end, we just want a successful outcome for us.

That brings me to my whole point. If the company you are in has declared their purpose for being in business, they have to hire the right people to carry out that purpose. So the purpose for being in business has to be clear and transparent to its customers. The people who are hired to administer the company’s resources must be qualified and dedicated Administrators. If your company is not doing the things it is designed to do, then you have the wrong people. If your people are not doing a good job in bringing positive results to your planned outcomes, you have to get new people. It’s as simple as that.

Dale Carnegie taught us how not to criticize, condemn or complain. In that spirit, we won’t point out the errors of other companies. Instead, the Dive Industry Association will continue to improve our services to the International Diving Community. We will continue to bring Buyers and Sellers together to increase economic development in the diving community. We will offer our Members FREE Press Releases to promote their companies and their products. We will include them in our Directories, Websites, and Databases to give them more marketing exposure. We will represent them at Regional and National Shows & Events via face-to-face, digital, virtual and hybrid formats. We will continue listing them in our Buyers Guide to connect them with their customers. AND we will work with Dive Equipment Manufacturers and Travel Destinations to reach their Retail Dive Center Customers, using all the marketing vehicles that are necessary to complete the mission.

It’s not about what other companies are not doing. It’s about what unmet needs currently exist in our community that need to be addressed. Our Purpose for being in business is clear. Our Mission is to Bring Buyers and Sellers together to grow the industry. Our Goal is to be the Good Steward of the International Diving Community. That’s our promise to you.

For more information, a member application or an opportunity to volunteer as an Industry Advisor, contact Gene Muchanski, Dive Industry Association, Inc. at gene@diveindustry.net

###