March/April 1996
Jim Fisher will soon take the field as ISRI’s new president, bringing with him a focus on developing leaders, increasing member involvement, and maintaining a “readiness position” on important issues.
By Kent Kiser
Kent Kiser is managing editor of Scrap.
If ReMA can be likened to a football team, then Jim Fisher wants to be viewed as its coach.
Not quarterback, mind you. Coach.
The coach analogy is important and appropriate because it captures how Fisher views what his role will be when he takes office as ISRI’s fifth president in April.
The football team analogy is also appropriate because Fisher—president and COO of Fisher Steel and Supply Co. (Muskegon, Mich.), a ferrous and nonferrous recycling firm—believes strongly that one person does not an association make. Instead, he contends, a successful trade group is composed of a coach, a handful of quarterbacks—that is, dedicated volunteer leaders and staff—and involved members who round out the squad.
With such a team in place, Fisher believes, no problem is insurmountable—not an OSHA blitz, nor a Superfund onside kick, nor any other obstacle. And as ISRI’s incoming president, his game plan is to take the handoff from his predecessors, build on their already-solid foundation, and continue pushing the ReMA team downfield.
Promoting Leadership and Involvement
If you ask Jim Fisher what the main themes of his administration will be, he points to two “hot buttons”: leadership and involvement—both topics he knows a lot about.
From the time he was in high school, Fisher has participated in scores of volunteer organizations, holding leadership positions in most of them. Nowhere is this more evident than in his involvement in scrap recycling industry trade groups—namely ReMA and the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel (ISIS), one of ISRI’s two predecessor associations.
Fisher’s long record of volunteer leadership began in 1977, when he became a director of the Michigan Chapter of ISIS. Since then, he has played just about every possible association position, serving as a chapter president, chairman of numerous ISIS and ReMA committees—including nonferrous, planning, chapter presidents, budget development, ad hoc convention, magazine review, and strategic planning—and all the required seats as a national ReMA officer.
It has certainly been a long journey to the top—almost 20 years—but Fisher wouldn’t have had it any other way. “I’ve always respected the need to pay my dues along the way,” he says. “There’s a reason you have to pass through all of those different chairs. There’s a lot to learn. And after a while, you earn the opportunity to be in that ultimate position.” And what, precisely, does Soon-to-Be President Fisher intend to do regarding leadership and involvement while in that ultimate position?
One of his first goals, he says, is to ensure that the association is led by a team of top-flight volunteer leaders in its divisions, committees, and chapters, as well as a crack professional staff in Washington.
Since ReMA must represent its members’ interests on myriad fronts, its president must empower and rely on volunteer leaders and staff to serve as key players and carry the ball, Fisher explains. “One person can’t make or lead ISRI,” he states. “My job is to be the team leader, more coach than quarterback. I have to make sure the vision is there, the direction is set, and the volunteers and staff are in sync. But the legwork has to be done by them.”
This ability to delegate is something Fisher has refined in his role as leader of Fisher Steel and Supply, his family’s 80-year-old, 80-employee company that has sister operations in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Alpena, Mich. With the closest of these three located 40 miles away from the Muskegon headquarters and the farthest 240 miles, he has had to become an expert delegator and learn to trust in the abilities of others—skills that he views as essential in a good leader.
In addition to building a motivated team of volunteers and staff in the present, Fisher is equally devoted to ensuring that ReMA is nurturing “a good cadre of future leaders” in its member ranks. “I want to lay the seeds to establish a breeding ground for future leaders in our industry,” he says.
That, of course, is no easy task, considering the ever-growing personal and business time pressures all recyclers face. “These pressures are preventing people from making what was, in the past, an automatic commitment to their industry association,” Fisher notes. “It’s a huge challenge to ensure that our volunteer leadership is in good shape for the future.”
Fisher intends to tackle this challenge during his administration by boosting the already-admirable commitment of current volunteer leaders and enhancing the participation of emerging and potential leaders. “I intend to clarify what kind of commitment is expected from volunteer leaders, without losing sight that these are volunteer positions and not necessarily their top priority,” he asserts. “I’m confident, though, that our volunteers will accept their commitments seriously and follow through.”
Outlining the Game Plan
Why is a deep bench of volunteer quarterbacks and increased member involvement so important to Fisher? Because only that foundation will enable ReMA to provide the best services to its members and succeed on issues of major importance to the scrap recycling industry, he points out.
Top among these issues are persistent threats in the legislative and regulatory arena such as flow control, the Basel Convention, and, especially, Superfund. The key to seeing these problems through, Fisher asserts, is for ReMA to maintain a “readiness position” at all times and for members to do their part when asked. “We’ve accumulated an awful lot of years of hard and outstanding effort to bring us to where we are, particularly on Superfund,” he asserts. “But we can’t let down our guard. We have to keep our eye on the ball.”
In large part, ISRI’s success or failure on these issues will depend on the involvement—or lack thereof—of its members. “We need to kick up our intensity on a volunteer basis in assuring that we have this readiness position in government and legislative affairs,” Fisher says. “While we’ve had some real stars, far too few of our members are properly trained and motivated to communicate our agenda on the state and national levels.”
And even when the current legislative and regulatory crises are resolved, ReMA can’t afford to become complacent, for other crises will surely develop. This reality prompts Fisher to affirm, “We can never lose our sharp readiness position. That’s what our members are looking for and what we need to remain viable into the future.”
Turning to other top agenda items, Fisher says he plans to continue the pace and emphasis set by his predecessors on such critical issues as environmental compliance, safety, and quality. In his view, scrap recyclers must continually strive to “get their houses in order” to achieve ever-higher performance standards in these areas. And ReMA will help them achieve these goals through enhanced education and training programs, says Fisher, adding, “This is a way we can do a tremendous amount to help our members.” He also plans to spread the continual improvement message around the country by attending chapter meetings and visiting member facilities.
Among his remaining priorities, Fisher wants to complete the strategic planning process begun by current ReMA President Cap Grossman, ensure that ReMA maintains its financial strength, and continue to improve the association’s services to not only retain existing members, but also attract new ones. While ISRI’s consistent member renewal rate indicates that members are “generally happy with our services,” ReMA must be ready and flexible enough to modify its services to suit their changing needs, he says. “There’s a lot of change going on in the industry, so ReMA must offer its members the necessary tools.”
A Tremendous Two Years
While Fisher has some changes in store during his term—such as replacing one board meeting per year with a “leadership retreat” and requiring an annual business plan to be part of the budget—his goal is not to depart from the direction set by his predecessors, but rather to hone and advance it. “We have a successful association. We’ve discussed a lot of change in the past few years, and we’ve continued to evolve as a trade association with one voice,” Fisher explains. “My job is to put the next ring around the tree and not forget what it was built on.”
As he stands on the verge of becoming ISRI’s fifth president, Fisher says he feels both humbled and excited. “The humbling part is that I’ve been preceded by many successful industry leaders who have mentored me,” he says. The excitement comes from being given what he calls a “tremendous opportunity” to make a difference to the association and the industry. “You get few opportunities in life when you can set the drumbeat and have the chance to transform ideas into reality,” Fisher remarks. “It’s also exciting for me to develop a team and watch others shine.”
Then, looking ahead, he concludes, “If I do the right job and select the right people, we’ll have a tremendous two years.” •
Jim Fisher will soon take the field as ISRI’s new president, bringing with him a focus on developing leaders, increasing member involvement, and maintaining a “readiness position” on important issues.