Forsyth County Chamber 2020 Chamber of the Year Finalist with James McCoy

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

Episode 75 — Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce 2020 Chamber of the Year Finalist with James McCoy
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: James McCoy
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.178 Brandon Burton
This special episode is part of our 2020 Chamber of the Year Finalist series, where you get to hear from some of the top chambers across the country. I hope you find great value in this series, but first, the intro. This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community. And now your host. He was born in Sacramento, California. He's my dad, Brandon Burton. Welcome to the Chamber Chat Podcast. This is episode 75, and this is our fourth interview in our 2020 Chamber of the Year finalist series. And for any of you who might be new to listening to Chamber Chat Podcast, I'd invite you to check out our Get Started page, which would be found at Chamberchatpodcast.com. com slash start and on that page you can get access to some nondues revenue ideas for your chamber which I know are important right now as well as access to our free chamber podcasting guide so if you've ever considered doing a podcast for your own chamber it's a free guide to get you started there but again that's chamberchatpodcast dot com slash start. So our guest for today is James McCoy and James is the president and CEO of the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce in Georgia. Over the last 15 years, he's led several successful campaigns to gain voter approval for over $2 billion for education, transportation, and public safety infrastructure improvements. During his tenure at the chamber, the organization has worked with over 300 economic development clients. That have announced the creation of over 20,000 new jobs and over $2 billion worth of capital investment in Forsyth County. Born in Franklin, North Carolina, James received his BA from Wake Forest University and his MBA from the Mike Cottrell College of Business at the University of North Georgia. James is a past president of the Rotary Club of Lanier Forsyth and is a Paul Harris Fellow and District Six Nine.
02:24.202 Brandon Burton
6910 Chairman of the Trustees for the Georgia Rotary Student Program. He's a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, and is the past chairman of the board for the Bald Ridge Boys Lodge, past president of the board for the Forsyth County Arts Alliance, past chairman of the board of North Georgia Community Foundation, and founding chairman of the board. For Mentor Me North Georgia. He's also volunteered for that organization as a mentor for 15 years. James is an avid fly fisherman and he loves chasing trout in the North Georgia Mountains as well as in his native western North Carolina. We will get into our discussion with James about what's making the Forsyth County Chamber stand out to be recognized as a Chamber of the Year finalist. As soon as we get back from hearing from our sponsor. Chambers are not considered for Chamber of the Year without having great programs and steady streams of non-dues revenue. I want to introduce you to a great affinity program from Swypit. In partnership with Chamber Chat Podcast, Swypit is one of the best credit card processors in the business. With the Swypit Affinity program, you can save up to 40% on your credit card processing fees at the Chamber. and help your member partners to do the same. Chambers who take advantage of the Swypit Affinity program can add thousands of dollars to their non-dues revenue annually. Please visit ChamberchatPodcast.com slash cc for more information and to request your complimentary cost savings analysis from the experts at Swypit. The first 20 chambers to respond will qualify for free equipment to get set up. Again, visit chamberchatpodcast.com slash C C to start swiping with Swypit. All right, James, we are back. If you would take just a moment and say hello to all the chamber champions out there that are listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
04:42.402 James McCoy
Well, hello everyone. Thank you, Brandon, for for inviting me on and and hosting this. it's a great opportunity and and thank you for for doing what you do to to help support our our profession and our industry. It's it's really resources like this are really important and and I know I I I value it a great deal and and I know my colleagues do too. And so thank you for for doing that. You know, I I I think for for me a l an awful lot of my life, I think probably much like my mi many of you, my life does center around the the chamber and my work with the chamber. and probably I think the most interesting thing that a lot of people do not know about me really is is is not so much me, it's my wife. she is her entire career has been built around the the arts and specifically wig and makeup design largely for opera companies. she toured with the Lion King for a couple of years. She has lived all over the world really, and was also a really a a childhood sweetheart of mine. We we we graduated from high school. She went her way. I went went mine. We both had very different lives, but we reconnected a few years ago and her mother had actually been my eighth grade school teacher. So we we we reconnected a little bit later in life and and have had a a a great time w with with with our our our marriage and our our life together and and are having a great time.
06:35.148 Brandon Burton
You must have been a good student or else that would have never flown.
06:41.134 James McCoy
I was I was I was a mediocre student, but a great student.
06:44.59 Brandon Burton
That's good. Well it's nice you can ride your your wife's coattails with her her wig design and and opera career. That is that's pretty neat. That is very interesting and not many people can say that they toured with the Lion King. Yeah, that that's pretty neat. so why don't you take a little a few minutes and just t tell us a little bit about your chamber, the Forsyth County Chamber, maybe the size, location, budget. that way the listeners can kind of get a better perspective from where you're coming from as you talk about what's making your chamber stand out and and some of those programs that that you're putting on right now.
07:25.378 James McCoy
Forsyth County, Georgia is just north of the city of Atlanta. in fact, the city of Atlanta falls into Fulton County. We share a southern border with with Fulton County. we are have experienced a a a great deal, particularly in the last twenty to twenty-five years, double digit growth through those years of as as as Atlanta has grown, our community has grown. much of that has been residential growth. and the the chamber's role in that has been really primarily to focus on working with our school systems to ensure that those are absolutely top notch and and leading the the nation in quality. And and and really getting an economic development program up and running. our chamber it largely up until about twenty five years ago worked the way a a merchants association might work and really changed as the community began to change. Forsyth County is about a community of about two hundred and fifty thousand people. our chamber we have about a thousand members. we have a budget that is is just shy of two and a half million dollars at the moment. although as we're enduring COVID nineteen, that may change a bit as the year continues, but but we are also the economic development entity for the community, the sole economic development for the community, as well as the sole tourism development entity for the the community. we do not have a separate convention and visitors bureau that is housed within us as well. And we have a staff of of ten. we have a couple of positions that are unfilled, so normally we would we would be at about twelve. and you know our our service area really we we see as the the the main corridor that that moves through Forsyth County to our south and north is called Georgia four hundred. And we really see our service area is the the the four hundred corridor.
09:45.358 James McCoy
and there are other chambers, of course, great chambers, along the corridor as well, and we do partner with them but but we really do see our service areas being larger than than just our community boundaries. but we are also the the economic development entity and that that really is a big driver in in our focus of of service delivery for for the community. we operate in a similar capacity that a of an outsourced vendor would for for our city and county government executing both economic development and and tourism.
10:21.312 Brandon Burton
Right. So you guys are kind of that one stop shop with Chamber and Economic Development and Tourism and really have a lot of hats to wear there and
10:31.074 James McCoy
We are. We and I and I will tell you it's it's been you know, I I know I've talked to a a great deal of my colleagues and I'm sure some of you are listening to this thinking, my gosh, how you know, how do they make that work? But really it it truly does. It works incredibly well for us. We have aligned the the interests of of the Chamber of Economic Development and and Tourism nicely and and the community has continued to be very supportive of it, as as has our our membership and and elected leadership.
11:00.694 Brandon Burton
Yeah. It it is nice to have it all under one roof too, instead of dealing with other organizations. I think there's I mean, there's pros and cons to it, but I can see the the benefit for sure. So why don't you take us through some of the highlights of the I know all the the chambers that apply for the chamber of the year, submit the a synopsis about your chamber and kind of some of those highlights. If you could just maybe briefly take us through those highlights. I imagine there's some economic development attention in there, but I'm I'm just taking a stab at it. But why don't you guide us through that?
11:40.61 James McCoy
Well we probably the thing that I would want to mention first is is is our work in in in economic development. We expanded our partnership with our strategic partners in economic development, our schools, county government development authority, and universities and technical college system. We expanded that i enormously. really that's been over the last several years, but particularly in the past year. and for the first time we we led with the development authority and county government the development of a new economic development plan for our community focused on growing the commercial tax digest, increasing job opportunities within the community, and increasing visitor spending and and investment in the chamber as well in investment in economic development. So that really changed the nature of how we operated in in and did business. you know, and and and when you are are are in an organization that is doing tourism, that's doing economic development, and that is doing the work of of a chamber, aligning the interests of those are are really important. And so another facet of our proposal and and application was was highlighting how we align those. and we actually borrowed something from the manufacturing world that that is a a strategic obje objective matrix that makes sure that we are through through all of the work that we do that it's it's interwoven together so that we're maximizing the benefit to the the community, to the the businesses, and to the to to our investors and and maximizing the opportunity for business growth and job growth in the community. And and that that was something that I I was very pleased that the board readily adopted and and adapted to, the staff I think really readily adapted to. But more than anything it really gives us a framework to how we can look at the the the this broad work of of the organization. and and I will tell you for
14:07.48 James McCoy
th those of us who have been in the chamber business a little while it seems a little wonky to be borrowing something from manufacturing and and and something that is called an objective strategic matrix may not sound a a lot of fun but but it was an incredibly valuable tool and exercise and and we highlighted that the that work in in in our our application. The
14:34.784 Brandon Burton
Yeah. Can you tell us just a little bit more about the objective strategic matrix and kind of what that looks like and kind of from the outsider looking in?
14:43.902 James McCoy
Sure. Well it it it it looks like a a a we use an i Excel really. It's just a giant Excel spreadsheet. and it's it's built around a a square in the center of the sheet that is your mission statement. and and without going into the architecture of it, and of course I'm happy to share this with with everybody, it it's it's worked for us. I I suspect it would work for many. other organizations, particularly if you're you have a diverse service offering. but what we what it does is it it asks you to what are what are your biggest objectives as an organization? Forget about the service areas, forget about the you know tourism, economic development, but what what are your big objectives, multi-year, you know, where are we going to be five years from now, ten years from now, whatever timeframe you're working on? and it really forces you to limit those to to those three big, big goals. and then the the the the matrix then walks you through how to take a look then at what are what are our goals for this year through each department and through each service area and how do they align to those longer term goals and then what are the tasks we're going to be doing for the year that contribute. to the annual goals that in turn contribute to the the the the the longer term goals. there are elements in it that of course assign responsibility and timelines and budgets and all all the fun stuff that comes along with that. But but but essentially it looks like a a a big square and you kind of go in in counterclockwise position around it. It it does take a little time. We we broke our staff meeting when we first did this we we did the exercise with our staff and we broke that over two or three afternoon staff retreats but but the outcome of it was very positive and then when we engaged our executive committee and and board of the the chamber in that discussion it it it it really I think resonated and made a lot of sense to to to folks and it really has held us in good stead. I mean we I can tell you it is
17:07.19 James McCoy
It is a different kind of organization. It is a much more focused organization and much more focused work that we've been doing as a result of of of just that one change.
17:18.432 Brandon Burton
It just it helps you digest your goals to where you can do it one bite at a time instead of trying to take on that whole elephant, it sounds like.
17:25.304 James McCoy
Well th th that's absolutely correct. And and the other part of that too is, you know, often in organizations where chambers where where y you you have some diverse service areas, those service areas get really siloed. You know, the economic development folks are not sure what they have, you know, in terms of goals in common with the tourism folks, the you know, the the the chamber membership folks don't r really see, you know, in terms of the programming and services what everybody else's is doing as it relates to them. And what it does is it provides one piece of paper or one one platform that everyone can sit down and look at okay, well this this may be primarily a departmental objective for economic development, but there's some benefits for tourism here too. Let's align some of those tasks from tourism to economic development or vice versa. And what we found is it's really helped us from a a membership retention and investment standpoint. and it's helped us really from a a team development standpoint. I mean we're we're we're working together as a team better as a result of that because the the the silos are are largely gone.
18:46.112 Brandon Burton
Mm-hmm. More synergy.
18:48.344 James McCoy
That's right. That's right.
18:49.932 Brandon Burton
Good. so what are what are some of those other areas to that were covered in the synopsis?
18:57.25 James McCoy
Sure. the the the other areas that we we highlight our organization after about thirty five years we we changed our name. and that was no small undertaking. folks felt felt very strongly about our name, but we had been the Cumming-Forsyth County chamber of commerce for about thirty five years and and that was largely to representative of of the city. Cumming that's that's the county seat for for Forsyth County changed our name as well as our brand and logo but we also as a result of that we're we're able to to develop a new brand and logo for our economic development efforts as as it relates to the partnership so that it was something separate from the chamber. It's all housed within the chamber. but the partnership itself needed its own identity. And and that has been more than just a brand. It has been it has really become a way of life and a way of working for us and and we we highlight that that work as well. we also it was a a a a many, many year in fact almost a decade long initiative, but w from from the very, very beginning to end. But we also Georgia has an economic development tool called Community Improvement Districts. they our commercial property owners are able to to tax themselves to create infrastructure that they decide upon. And so we work very hard in the the the the primarily the business part of our community or the heart and soul of our the the business part of our community to create a new CID. And now that's been almost a year old and they are outdoing some remarkable, remarkable work that that is really changing that that area and that community to support further growth of business and the infrastructure that supports business.
21:03.95 Brandon Burton
Awesome. Is there maybe a couple of examples, yeah, one or two examples of that have come from the the new CID that or maybe things that are in the works that you can share with?
21:16.248 James McCoy
So you know I I I think we have all had the ex the the experience of being on a an interstate highway and taking an exit and and that that exit is is not a great example of of what we would want our community guests to see as a representative of the rest of our community. And that's exactly right. That's exactly right. I think we we've all had that experience.
21:38.774 Brandon Burton
Not a few of those.
21:44.206 James McCoy
And whether it's in our community or or in another community. And so that that's been a challenge for for us as the community has grown and and honestly and candidly as both local government and state government investment in the aesthetics of roads and highways and corridors has been depleted. And so and and there is that does have an impact on property values, it has an impact on your community brand. And so what the CID has done is is develop an a a a private maintenance agreement with our state government to be able to do some some landscaping improvements and maintenance improvements and where the state was picking up trash and and mowing and and and and and and that really being it and and them doing that maybe once a month through the summer. now they'll be using a private landscape company who'll be mowing once a week and picking up trash twice a week. and that isn't to mention the hardscape improvements that really improve the overall aesthetics, so that it sets the the right tone for for that quarter. That that's a small project, but it has a huge, huge impact. there's some safety tra traffic safety issues that they're they're also resolving. There's some intersections that need some improvement that have been on the books for a long time but not been funded that they'll be able to fund. longer term, they're they're building an they'll be the leader of building a new interchange on in the very south part of of the county along the county line that will help alleviate a lot of congestion in in the area and because of because of there being such a high concentration of businesses along this one exit. rush hour for us is a is a serious issue not just at that exit but at but all of the exits, but it will it will provide a great deal of relief for the employees coming and going and and re reduce drive time for most of those companies' employees by as much as twenty to thirty minutes a day. And that's that's meaningful and and that there that that means dollars. And so we're the the C I D is very focused on on on on that and I I suspect
24:10.754 James McCoy
You the many of those are gonna be long term projects but but those are some
24:15.53 Brandon Burton
Yeah. Now that those are great examples. Yeah, what I love about doing this podcast is my whole goal is to introduce the listeners, I call them chamber champions, to people and ideas that can help them better serve their chamber and their community. And being able to do this Chamber of the Year finalist series, we're really looking at some of the best chambers that we can kind of model after. So with that in mind, what about the Forsyth County Chamber, do you think makes you stand out? Maybe what are you most proud of and what makes you stand out that a lot of other chambers might not be doing?
24:56.746 James McCoy
I think f for for me it's the alignment of the well first of all the the the the the idea that that economic development and and you know in our county we're the only economic development entity, we're the only tourism development entity. Those are housed within our organization, within the chamber. and that by itself is is has become has become over time pretty unique. and it it certainly is in our region. the other part of of that though that I think's really important is the the alignment of of goals and the alignment of the work. and and a great example of that is for us a central feature of our tourism initiative is hosting national and increasingly international sporting events. we we have a great example of this is we have a one of the the the the nation's largest cricket fields. And and and and it's it has a an enormous, enormous following and they are the the the folks that that manage the the facility are bringing folks from truly all over the world to play cricket. And and of course these go on for days. and and it's been a tremendous had a tremendous impact.
26:00.75 Brandon Burton
Right.
26:22.04 James McCoy
W so our economic development team has actually been now working with folks that are very interested in that the the audience for for cricket and people that are making cricket bats and cricket equipment and are in fact we there's a a facility now completely separate from from the cricket fields themselves that we're working with and opening that work with professional. cricket players from a around the world as a training facility. And so those are two departments working closely together around and I'm I'm using the cricket fields as one example, but you could repeat that in in in across the board. film is also commercial film projects are also centrally important and so our economic development department and and tourism development department, which oversees the film development work of the organization, work together to to do things like get a new studio space out of the ground. And so we work very closely with them to to try to get those those two departments to to work together and they have and and and I think that's really from what when I talk to my colleagues often there's some competition there among the chamber in tourism and economic development and and we just I think have have identified a path at least that works for our community and for us of aligning those interests.
28:01.784 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. Now we just need to get into a couple more phases down the road of recovery after COVID nineteen so we can get the cricket crowds back to your area.
28:10.03 James McCoy
That's that that's right. Although I I will tell you I think that we're probably gonna see those those folks come back pretty early in in that it's it's a hundred percent outdoor. they have a small clubhouse, but I think I think they're gonna be back pretty pretty soon.
28:22.648 Brandon Burton
Back at it here. Well, I hope so. I hope so. that kind of seg segues into the next question I have for you. I'd like for you to share maybe some of your plans, some of your thoughts about how you plan on leading your business community through the the recovery of from the economic impact from COVID 19 that almost every business is facing.
28:49.388 James McCoy
That's that's right. I well I I I am I am extremely, extremely proud of our our team in that w we had a a call I called a staff meeting over the weekend on on March fourteenth and you know we talked about what what we needed to do right out of the gate. We didn't have of course any real information about what the SBA was doing, what we you know, what we what guidelines there would be, anything along those lines. We just knew that there was the shutdown was coming and and and we we needed to take some some immediate action. within 48 hours we had a a named branded and initiative that that had a standalone website call called Together 4 FOCO. And so for for us a a nickname for our community is FOCO. And so we we we used that and and it it began really as a support your local business and buy local through this difficult time initiative, but very, very quickly, e even I I think a good bit before people were really looking at a specific recovery plan initiative, it became the recovery initiative. so we we we button that up a bit by by creating a plan around that and that plan was to focus on continued efforts to get business people operating capital to get them through what we we believe to be the the to the other to bridge it to the other side of the recovery what we hope to be a relatively speaking short period of of time that they would need that that working capital. and by that that was us providing direct support to companies, coaching them through the process of everything from what is an EIDL loan, what is a PPP loan. and in some cases one member of of our team really became a a a recognized expert in the area and was coaching through people through how to fill out those applications. and so so access to capital was was one side of it. And there was
31:17.838 James McCoy
there continues to be a a strong effort in in that initiative. Employment was the next. and so we obviously, you know, every community had some employers, grocery stores and places like Walmart and and for us Amazon. they they couldn't hire enough people. And we had a lot of other folks that were temporarily out of work. And so we created a platform to connect those those folks through social media and and through the website. and and that continues. We rolled out a virtual job fair. We were the first in our region to do so and and we're doing them every Friday focusing on a different industry as part of of the recovery.
32:02.902 Brandon Burton
How does that look? Your virtual job pairs it like a Zoom meeting or
32:06.582 James McCoy
Yeah, essentially it's well we we actually use the BlueJeans platform. There's a a lot of reasons for that. Main mainly BlueJeans has a great tool for larger events that that we use that's really reliable and you know you're not having to mute everybody's microphone. A lot of those things are built into it, but we use BlueJeans and but it has the same breakout feature, breakout room feature. So we try to keep each group relatively small. We'll have three to four local employers. And that's the other thing is we try to make sure that it's folks that are providing local jobs, and and and something that we also need them to be able to be able to hire somebody pretty quickly. but we'll have three to four employers, it's all industry focused, and then folks sign up while while they're on the call. that they, you know, for which employer they want to be in the breakout room with, then they go into the breakout rooms. So there's a an overall introduction to everybody. we break them out into the breakout rooms. and if folks want to switch around their time so each breakout room will last twenty minutes or so, it gives the employer a chance to get some interpersonal communication and information. We have everybody post their their resumes through the chat feature so that they're the companies can download that information quickly and if and and in most cases the employers are posting information that the candidates can can download. So w we have actually been doing some coaching sessions for a few other chambers who have been doing the who wanted to do this. I will tell you we learned it all the hard way and I'm happy for us to share that. but but we have a remarkable team two team members Laura Stewart and Beth Beth Harris on our team who I really said we've just got to figure this out. and and really the only other platforms that were out there for job fairs, the entry point on those were $45,000 and $50,000. And I said, well, that's you know, we're that's obviously not something we're gonna be able to bite off, at least right now. And they f figured out a way to make it work, and and it has been very successful. and and you know it's it's not
34:26.274 James McCoy
hundreds and hundreds of people, but the people who are engaged in it, the people who are on are finding jobs and the employers that are hiring are getting good employees. A great example from last week. We had a a person who had in the engineering, industrial engineering background, he had two employers competing for him on the call. and so you know, it's it's it's really, you know, the the i i i in some ways it's held together with duct tape and baling twine, because we we took a platform that was not intended for a job fare and made it one. but but that's also I think how we're you know, have been operating for a couple of months now and and making it work and and it it has is re it's also been successful.
35:12.59 Brandon Burton
Well and it right now is a great time for a business to hire. I mean, if if they're in a position where they can hire, there's a lot of great talent out there. So they should take advantage of it.
35:23.566 James McCoy
Absolutely right. Well, and the other part of that too is well that we're we we we are working on with our education partners is there's also a lot of folks out there who have an opportunity to do some online learning and and retool their skill set. and we're we're fortunate that the state of Georgia has rolled out some some free open access classes for everything from computer programming, website construction, marketing and project management, that sort thing, where you can pursue a a certificate. We're we're working with our university and and community college at the moment to to roll out some some more industry specific and and community focused programming to help folks who you know they may have been in the restaurant industry for a few years and are looking to do something different and we're really encouraging folks to spend the time they have now to to get that skill set so that they they can go do something different with with their career.
36:34.006 Brandon Burton
That's right. Great examples. Hopefully, you know, some of those chamber champions listening could take that back home and and apply some of those to recovery in their communities as well. So James, as we get towards the end of this interview here, I wanted to ask you to maybe share one action item that a chamber professional is listening could could do to help take their chamber up to the next level.
37:03.16 James McCoy
Well, well first of all I feel somewhat inadequate in being able to answer that that that question. but but but I I can tell you for me, what what really changed and I at least I felt like I was moving into a new level. I mean I'd pursued a the in and and got my MBA and and certainly that that was was helpful. you know working on securing a great team was was helpful and and that included develop board development as well to get leaders who really saw the the power of the the the organization and and really pushed me to to to do more and and ask tough great questions. But really for me to to be very candid the thing that that I think truly has just changed my life is is and my professional life, well my personal life too, is is really continuing on a lifelong path of figuring out who in the world I am, and and knowing you know things that I once thought were strengths. as particularly as I've gotten a little more experienced and older, I realize I have been fooling myself. They were not strengths. they were particular weak weaknesses, but they were not particular strengths. things that I saw as weaknesses, I was wrong about some of those too. I mean there were some things that I was right about. but but really you know I I I I think there's everybody finds their or I hope everyone finds their own path to really knowing themselves and and you know I I read and listen to a lot of of Brené Brown and and really viewing what your vulnerability as your greatest strength. And once I and she, you know, loves the term, lean into it, once once I really adopted that as and and believed it and lived it, things really changed. Really. I mean, professionally things changed for me enormously. and that isn't to say we I haven't a lot left to learn. I boy, I do.
39:27.956 James McCoy
and and and every day this whole you know experience with COVID nineteen has been a great example of that. but but really you know I I I I I I've I know that I handled the the this professionally and personally this the the what we've endured as a as a country over the last nine to to ten weeks or so. I I handled that very differently professionally than I did the Great Recession. the Great Recession really I I I I was a lot of the action that I took was misplaced or out of fear. and and this has not been that that way. i it is and and I know that that really the the the basis of that is knowing myself, knowing my own vulnerability and knowing some of my strengths and and many of my weaknesses. So it's it it's it's an overly simplified thing to say because it's an incredibly complicated process and in many cases it can be a very painful process. a very painful one. It you know we're we're we're we're all carrying around the this baggage of our lives and some of us and well all of us have some baggage we do not want to have to to look at consider and confront. And so I think it's the more that we do that, the more we know ourselves, the better stewards we are of our organizations, our communities, and the better family members and friends and and colleagues we are.
41:08.002 Brandon Burton
I think it's good advice and it's a important perspective to have as you look at any situation. so this next question I I look forward to the answer that I get from everybody that I ask. But as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see their purpose going forward?
41:27.374 James McCoy
You know, I I I think for for as much as as gets said about, you know, the the whole world changing and certainly recently th those conversations. I really look, you know, at least at at the the the chambers of commerce around the the country that that I have experience with. and and they really have been d most of them have been very dedicated to improving the communities that they are in and and that they serve. that basis is one that I I just do not I I I think is timeless. you know, whether we do that with a membership based model as compared to an investment based model where, you know, w membership means probably not as much as it it used to, I suspect that is the case. we certainly are heading in in in that direction. But the idea that that that a chamber of commerce is in my view, and I think really the future of the organizations across the country rests in it is still the greatest tool to create community change that lasts and has a a broad impact. that's the greatest tool that exists in in the country and and maybe the world. and and and you know, those thing it it's timeless. It it ex it it it they transcend political changes, they transcend political leadership, they transcend even oftentimes community leadership. And I I I think that's that that is where I see our organization continuing to head and broaden that the tools that we use to accomplish that are very different and will continue to be very different. And and I think we we if if anything, the only really I think truly meaningful change is is how we adapt to that change.