American Rental Association Leadership

While the American Rental Association leadership never took the time to get to know me, I have learned a great deal about them in the past year. 

Let's dive a little deeper into the American Rental Association Royalty. My assumptions are based on a combined effort of the American Rental Association Board of Directors and paid Staff to encircle and protect one loose cannon. You have read my Trolls' words. How would this be handled in your store?   Whether the member is new or has been a member for sixty years, every member is entitled to a response!!! The other Question you need to ask. Is American Rental Association leadership protecting my Troll, or is my Troll acting at the direction of ARA leadership? 

 Who Really Runs the American Rental Association?  

 

The American Rental Association is Cronyism at its worst. In my 60 years of involvement with the American Rental Association, I have witnessed members accomplish extraordinary things. However, it has been more than a dozen years since the ARA held open elections. The Board replicates itself. As one board member's term limit ends, they pick their own replacement and assume another position. The entrepreneurs who built the ARA have been replaced by a leadership team that lacks ideas, direction, and a work ethic. Our current leadership has no understanding or compassion for the association's members. My Troll was an ARA Board insider who was given an ARA position for which he was neither qualified nor trained. This was just a paycheck between rental gigs. 

Former Region Two Director and incoming President, Brian Richardson, initiated the decision to circle the wagons around my Troll. His job is to act as a liaison between the American Rental Association Board of Directors and the Region 2 membership. According to the current ARA president, Robert Pederson, Mr Richardson agreed with him that the comments by my Troll are an acceptable social media debate.  

If a member of your Staff used that wording in a conversation with one of your customers, would you find it acceptable?  

Mr. Richardson has been copied on the emails between Mr. Rogan and me. Mr. Richardson has seen Mr. Rogan's lack of response. Mr. Richardson will be the next President of the American Rental Association. Mr Richardson's disdain for the association members should be a concern. 

CEO Tony Conant hired my Troll. Mr Conant is responsible for my Troll's actions. Instead of disciplining his actions, Mr Conant chose to hide from me. When I asked Mr Conant to respond to my Troll's comments with three identical letters, he ignored them all. THIS IS NOT A LEADER! 

Who is Tony Conant?  

Digging into Mr Conant's background was child's play. Online, Mr Conant is an open book, possibly too open. Mr Conant doesn't mind sharing his innermost thoughts during interviews and videos. I have reviewed Mr. Conant's educational background and previous business experience. What I couldn't find was any experience as a CEO; it also appears he has never worked for a member-owned trade organization.  

I have interviewed hundreds of candidates for many different positions, and based on the educational and employment background, Mr. Conant's application should never have been considered for the CEO position at a trade association. In one interview, Mr. Conant states that he knew nothing about the rental industry and needed to be convinced to take a job he didn't really want. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSkJOeqJl08  

Mr Conant has nothing in common with the three previous CEOs. How can I say this? Because I knew them. The ARA membership pays Mr Conant a $700,000.00 salary, yet he seems to struggle to manage a small staff. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/362425015 

If you bump into Tony, ask him this Question. Why was a member attacked on social media by his Staff for telling a new member that ARA insurance was founded to cover smaller renal stores? 

Who is my Troll? I would rather use your ARA contacts to search out his name. He was a third-generation owner and longtime ARA board insider. When he left the industry, he was hired by Tony Conant. His Bio describes how he likes his steaks prepared, rather than his qualifications in Member Services. 

Today's American Rental Association is Cronyism at its worst. It has been more than a dozen years since open elections have been held. The Board replicates itself. The entrepreneurs who built the ARA have been replaced by spoiled grandchildren or back-office dwellers who are void of ideas. They have little understanding or compassion for the association's members or the association's history. 

During my two years as ARA of Pa President, I visited over 40 member and non-member stores, both large and small. Question to the ARA Leadership: How many small rental businesses have you visited? Before you attack Mom and Pop, you should get to know them. 

Can the American Rental Association be fixed? Not without open elections. Instead of searching out your buddies, search out ideas.  

Elections:

Mr Pederson complained about the lack of participation in elections. THE AMERICAN RENTAL ASSOCIATION DOESN'T HAVE REAL ELECTIONS. The ARA hasn't had open elections for more than a decade. One of the organizations I am involved with just elected a new president after 20 years. Almost overnight, the new energy has turned the organization around.  

What I found in my search for intelligent life in ARA leadership is a problem with many organizations that don't term-limit their officers: Stagnation.  

What percentage of leadership has served for over a dozen years? I left the ARA of Pa Board after my term as president ended because it was essential to bring in new ideas and energy into the ARA of Pennsylvania.  

Apathy is when you expose the deficiencies in American Rental Association leadership, and THEY ATTACK! What happened to open civilized debate? This reveals the laziness of cronyism, not ideas. Lack of elections is why you see apathy. This is why the ARA is shedding members.  

Recent leadership has focused all its efforts on promoting special interest groups while ignoring the needs of the general membership. They have separated themselves from the membership. They show a deep disdain for the independent general rental stores.  

Just look at what the ARA considers education at the rental show. Instead of offering programs on safety insurance and theft, recent rental shows highlight the reliance on the motivational speaker catalog. This is just being lazy.  

Apathy is why members don't participate in elections: Members aren't ignoring elections; they are casting a vote for "none of the above". From my board position at ARA of Pa, I quickly learned we weren't partnering in leadership; we were mouthpieces for the Board of Directors. When I questioned touchy subjects, the ARA response was "GO AWAY." 

Do you believe my comments are over the top? Remember, the American Rental Association Leadership had a year to answer my Question. 

Grassroots:  

Mr. Pederson spoke about the foundation of an organization. I mentioned that you can't grow the roots by jamming a few thousand people into an amusement park. You can't grow involvement by preaching to them on webinars and social media. You certainly can't build involvement by personal attacks on social media. 

Growing and grooming the grassroots of an organization is something I am very familiar with. I have worked with and held leadership positions in other member-owned organizations. I brought those talents with me when I joined the ARA of Pa Board of Directors. 

ARA of Pennsylvania has been recognized for its grassroots development. Our Board of Directors brought educational and recreational events to areas of our state where local chapters once existed. We returned evening meetings to rental stores and vendor locations. Our very successful dinner at the show engaged members through casual dining and social building games. Our members got to know the ARA state leadership and each other. Our grassroots programs were so successful that the ARA of Pennsylvania board had to develop new positions to accommodate the members interested in leadership. During my two years as ARA of Pa President, I visited over 40 member and non-member stores, both large and small. At ARA of Pa, we reinvented the three defunct local rental associations with meetings and discussions in each area.  

Unfortunately, it appears the tools we used to grow grassroots involvement in our large state have been taken away.  

Decades ago, single and multi-day regional events brought members together for meetings and social events. That is all gone.  

The ARA leadership conference, which I attended a few times, is invitation-only and mainly attended by insiders. The ARA leadership conference should be an open event and not a yearly reunion of past attendees.  

Are my comments over the top? Remember, the American Rental Association leadership impugned my exemplary 40-year safety record.  No Member should be subject to the Vice President's unhinged comments?"   

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