Leadership for Changing Times
Editor-in-Chief Cars now talk to us. Phones take photos and play music. Prosthetic limbs are wired to human nerve impulses and are approaching the degrees of freedom of human hands. There have been more technology-attributed changes in the past 30 years than in the previous 10,000 years.
By John G. Falcioni,
As futurists and pundits deliberate the ways technology will continue to reshape society in the next 30 years, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers is again poised to play a significant role in helping shape this dialogue—much as it did nearly 130 years ago when it was founded in 1880.
A principal figure on the leadership team that was charged with examining ASME’s role and determining its path is the Society’s newly installed executive director, Thomas G. Loughlin, who took the helm from the retiring Virgil R. Carter on July 1. Loughlin became ASME’s 13th executive director.
Previously the deputy executive director, Loughlin, a New Jersey resident who is married and has two young daughters, has been with ASME for 15 years and has served in several senior-level functions—and, in the interest of full disclosure, let me add that he was at one time my direct supervisor. Consequently, Loughlin brings with him to his new position a comprehensive understanding of the organization and, as a thoughtful mechanical engineer, he also has an appreciation for the role of the ME in today’s interdisciplinary technology environment.
 Thomas G. Loughlin
Following a reorganization of ASME’s volunteer and staff structure, dubbed Continuity and Change and overseen by Carter through the past six years, Loughlin said he now sees an “opportunity and obligation” for the Society to carry out its core mission to “… better enable its practitioners to contribute to the well-being of humankind.”
During an hour-long interview last month, Loughlin spoke at length about some of his hopes and the aspirations he will continue to communicate to volunteer and staff leaders so that “there is a shared vision and we can reach great heights together,” he said.
“We have been through considerable change over the last few years,” Loughlin acknowledged, “and we have a leaner and more agile organization as a result. We will sustain our operational successes through ongoing management discipline, communication, accountability, and oversight.”
ASME is not a typical organization, he said in referencing its mission. “Facilitating the dialogue is important, but is not quite enough,” Loughlin said. “We need to set the direction and enable the action for global change on issues such as power, water, climate change, engineering workforce, education, and sustainability.”
Loughlin said he understands ASME cannot go it alone, and that it will engage the sister engineering societies in the discussion. He added that ASME will investigate strategic initiatives with other not-for-profit organizations and also with industry.
 Prominent among his plans is to formulate a stronger strategic approach to ASME’s digital environment, which includes the Web, digital content acquisition and delivery, and member and community support. The digital path effort is under way within ASME’s expansive Codes and Standards area. The goal is to digitize the code development process from inception and development through publication and addenda.
“We will complete the digitalization of all our intellectual property, including codes, journals, and proceedings,” Loughlin said. “Additionally, ASME.org [the official Web site of the Society], should be rejuvenated in order to better serve community interaction, prod-uct content delivery, and member service and advocacy.”
Loughlin also has high hopes and plans for Engineering.org, an Internet domain owned by ASME.
“Imagine a place where community leaders could download a blueprint for an inexpensive and effective clean water system for a village in a developing country,” Loughlin said. “Or a group of concerned citizens could post a problem, such as local power needs, and experienced engineers from around the world would provide solutions.”
A recent task force that examined the future relevance of organizations such as ASME pointed to on-time dissemination of knowledge as one of the core responsibilities of membership-based and other comparable organizations. Part of that charge, it would seem, is also to demystify technology and put the proper perspective on new developments in order to help facilitate technology transfer and assist mechanical engineers who are working in environments as diverse as Disney and IBM, Ford and Bechtel.
 ASME President Sam Y. Zamrik, Loughlin, and Executive Director Virgil R. Carter (left to right) at a recent Leadership Training Conference.
Loughlin understands the diversity of the profession because it mirrors that of ASME membership rolls. And this is no trivial insight, since the workplace for current and newly graduating mechanical engineers is changing quickly.
“By 2018, ASME will be a truly global organization representing a network of organizations and member units strategically partnered to benefit humankind. We will be the recognized leader in the engineering community’s response to issues of global concern,” Loughlin said.
Quoting the inscription of a prominent plaque dedicated during ASME’s 50th-anniversary celebration, and which hangs in ASME headquarters here in New York, Loughlin said, “What is not yet, may be.” ASME’s business lines will thrive as leaders in the markets they serve, he said. “And, along with the hard work and achievements, we will remain faithful to the simple, forward-looking phrase, ‘What is not yet, may be.’ ”
| 
