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Letter from the Editor
THE Letter from EDITOR
WE MUST NOT LOSE OUR CRAVING FOR INNOVATION
Emily Blair, CAE
Executive Vice President / Executive Editor
As the AAA jumps into 2022, we are excited for the new year and all of that brings. This year, the Association is turning our attention to Innovation for the topic theme for 2022’s issues of WINDOW magazine.
If you think of the ways innovation has impacted your daily life, it likely means a process or product was improved in some way. In other words we generally have a positive affiliation with innovation. Remember the flip phone? The technology we hold in our hands every day is such an incredible improvement, and we can’t imagine the world differently now. How would we ever live without it, right? Amazing to think how much innovation occurs in the technology industry on an annual basis. We crave that innovation – just look what happens with each new iPhone release. The cravings are real!
We should crave innovation in all aspects – even in our work at the Association, right? Although that may not top your list of places you expect innovation, it is not lost on us how important that can be for our multifamily industry. Innovation isn’t always easy, nor maybe the changes that result. Typically, the process of innovating isn’t always the most straightforward. However, we have persisted over the dramatic past two years, and in this issue, we reveal a big change. In these pages, we hope you see the innovation within a project that led by the AAA Board of Directors following the strategic plan in 2019 – our committee structure. Volunteers lead this organization, whether it is a committee chair or Board President, and we needed to ensure that the “gears” of our volunteer leadership effort are working together with our strategic priorities to move AAA into the future. We are eager to share more with you as we continue to work within this new structure – and more importantly, help you find your place within it.
So where else can our industry really innovate? Let’s think about the broader community – what are the challenges we hear most about in the Greater Austin region? I think we could all agree, affordability likely makes the “top 5” frequent headlines and most-discussed topic. AAA believes there is ample opportunity for innovation to also benefit the issue of housing affordability in our community. We must challenge our community leaders and elected officials to not lose that craving for innovation – even in the most complex community challenges. Read up on the Industry Update to hear how innovation can touch this important policy topic.
Cheers!
