Twenty-three years ago—once again finding myself in a restaurant eating alone, a consequence of traveling around the country to be among members in their regions and to make speeches on various subjects—I often jotted my musings on a napkin.
On one such napkin, I wrote about what I wanted to say at the association’s business meeting as an introduction to reporting on the statistics and successes since the last annual meeting:
“We have to attend to the demographics of the profession to insure that what we as an association offer is relevant not just for today and today’s members, but for the future and tomorrow’s members. Student affairs and other support services are projecting the largest number of retirees within the next 5-10 years that the profession has experienced.
“Our challenge is to meet the needs of professionals up and down the demographic ladder. We can do this by broadening our definition of diversity among our membership to include age, gender, race, socioeconomic factors, and different perspectives.
“We need good people who are eyeing retirement to remain active in the profession as mentors and sages. We must find a way to capitalize on the gifts and legacies of our retiring professionals.
“At the same time, we need to look to mid-level, new and potential professionals to rejuvenate the field and the association. Determining what they need from their professional association is a particular challenge. In addition to meeting their professional needs, we want the talents they bring to move the association forward.
“We need to help the burgeoning number of mid-level professionals to assume leadership roles. What is the best way to show them that we need their participation and leadership to accomplish our vision?
“One of our tasks is to emphasize the power of leading from the middle.”
From what I can glean, as an outsider today, the association has been successful in bringing to fruition what were notes on a napkin a long time ago.
Gwen Dungy 
Please accept the belated thanks of one of the retirees who benefitted from your “notes on a napkin, “ had a grand time working with student affairs professionals and faculty members in fifty colleges and universities across the nation after she retired, and especially enjoyed my four-year partnership with NASPA on the Degree Now Grant.
Hopefully, NASPA’s current and future leaders will continue to share your vision and goals. However, I would like to expand one of the concepts you mentioned on your napkin: training people to lead from the middle.
I think students affairs professionals should be encouraged to lead from wherever they find themselves: at the top, the bottom, or in the middle. No matter what the organizational chart says, we have a unique and very important perspective.
The greatest compliment I ever received from one of the most challenging presidents with whom I worked was, “Damn it, Maggie, I could make you a janitor, and you would still try to tell me how the college could do a better job of __________.” My response? “And that’s the way it should be.”
And that is the way it should be. I’m glad that my notes on a napkin prompted you to share your thoughts. Thank you, Maggie.