“Running a business without a strategic plan is like driving across the country blindfolded without a map.” You may have heard different variations on this quote, originally attributed to Forbes. You can fill in the last part of the simile with any number of activities requiring vision or, metaphorically, understanding. Whether you choose the literal or the figurative, the vision or understanding must be keen.
As we sharpen our focus in 2020, the CAS will harness its energy to deliver on three main priorities:
- A new strategic plan.
- Increased stakeholder engagement.
- A four-year road map for basic education.
The CAS does have a strategic plan, which was refreshed in 2017 and is typically evaluated on a five-year cycle. However, given all the changes occurring in our industry and the world at large, the CAS is revisiting its envisioned future and resultant strategic goals two years ahead of schedule. We are decidedly driving open-eyed across the country, but we need to revise our current plan because the geography keeps changing.
As for stakeholder engagement, the CAS is looking to fine-tune its value proposition and to understand what it truly means to be a member of our organization. Looking at our current state of the organization, there is no doubt that we are growing and that the average age of our members is skewing younger. (See the charts below.) We have a number of distinctly different member cohorts within the CAS and each cohort may have different needs and different ways that they wish to engage with the CAS: The value proposition of the CAS to a retiring member is likely to be much different from that of a newly minted Associate. Throughout 2020, we aim to understand the complexity and diversity of our membership and other key stakeholders — candidates, educators, employers and regulators — to ensure that the CAS is providing maximum value to all our constituents.
The last major deliverable for 2020 will be the release of a multi-year view of the changes we aim to implement in basic education. This basic education road map or timetable will include, but not be limited to, moving away from our paper and pencil validation to a more contemporary environment, validating predictive analytics at an applied level, developing a capstone project that could tie together knowledge obtained across all the exams and shifting towards modules or more online content. Early in 2020, the CAS will be vetting ideas for evolving and modernizing our basic education. We aim to have the road map for 2021-2024 complete by midyear.
I’m excited and energized about this coming year as CAS president. The CAS has set some big goals and I look forward to achieving them.
