I am looking forward to seeing all my American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) family at the Annual Meeting in Atlanta. As we prepared for this meeting it was mentioned several times that if a foreign animal disease comes to this continent, the Annual Meeting will need to have a lot of last-minute changes. Changes such as these require everyone involved to adapt to a new set of circumstances. Some people simply have more innate adaptability, but hopefully understanding how to better adapt to change will help us if the devastation of African swine fever (ASF) were to arrive on our shores.
Adaptability is 1 of 34 strengths in the Gallup StrengthsFinder personality survey.1 Individuals strong in this trait easily adapt to change. They do this by being resourceful and having a strong will to face uncertainty. Change is stressful, adaptable people can use the pressure from the stress of change to produce their best work. Sometimes these individuals are viewed as procrastinators, but by waiting until the last minute the opportunity for further change is limited. With the threat of ASF being very real as we move into the next decade, excellent communication and planning will help decrease the stress that such a dramatic problem will present. Keeping an open mind to new solutions and methods to handle this new disease challenge will be important to the entire industry.
Successful businesses and organizations must also adapt to change over time. Sometimes even though the change is positive, there must be some adaptability to the new conditions. Instead of an individual being adaptable, the leadership of the group must think ahead and be willing to switch quickly to plan B when plan A doesn’t work out. Over my career I have seen the swine industry adapt well to changes including sow housing, antibiotic use, market weights, technology, and new diseases. The next challenges are unknown at this point, but I am confident that our industry is well prepared to adapt as necessary to stay strong and continue to feed the world high quality protein.
The AASV has also adapted well to change in its 50-year existence. Most recently, the adaptation of electronic balloting has shown the willingness of our members and leadership to adopt new ideas and technologies. New technologies have allowed much more rapid communication with its members, embracing this change has helped AASV be successful. I am proud of the past AASV leadership for being forward thinkers and helping this organization adapt to change.
In the end, change is inevitable, adaptable people and organizations will be the most successful if they readily accept change. Quickly finding an effective new way to deal with change will determine if our industry and the AASV will continue to be successful over the next 50 years.
Jeffrey Harker, DVM
President-elect
Reference
*1. Rath T. StrengthsFinder 2.0. New York: Gallup Press; 2007.
* Non-refereed reference.