Ron Starner, executive director of IAMC

It's no secret that the American worker entered a new era of high productivity around 1995. Huge corporate investments into new technology, equipment and infrastructure paved the way for elevating the overall productivity of U.S. companies.

According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, those productivity gains should continue for at least several more years. Speaking to an economic development conference in Greenville, S.C., on Aug. 31, Bernanke said, "Few jobs or occupations have not been affected in some way by the technological changes of recent years, a trend that will certainly continue."

There is no better evidence of this growth in productivity than the member companies of the Industrial Asset Management Council. Did you know, for example, that the average IAMC Active Member company averaged 52.1 percent net income growth and 13.5 percent sales growth in 2004?

Did you know that 48.3 percent of these companies had net income growth in excess of 20 percent and that 55.1 percent had sales growth in excess of 10 percent? Did you also know that the average IAMC Active Member company employs 93,893 people?

That's a lot of productivity, not to mention a lot of paychecks flowing into American and international households and their surrounding communities.

Our research also shows that the typical IAMC member firm outproduces and grows faster than the typical Fortune 500 company. By almost any statistical performance measure, the member firms of IAMC score well into the top half of all companies in the U.S.

What does that mean for you? Well, among other things, it means that as a member of IAMC you have chosen to surround yourself with a group of elite professionals who are helping to lead the highest performing organizations on the planet. You are most likely one of them.

But it also means that the best performers are never content to accept the status quo when it comes to productivity and performance. They are always looking for a new competitive edge, or to sharpen that edge.

At our next IAMC Professional Forum, set for Sept. 30 through Oct. 4 in Williamsburg, Va., more than 300 professionals in corporate real estate, economic development and commercial real estate will gather to once again learn from the best, and that includes each other.

With programs like Peer to Peer and Get Some Help, our members share their best practices with one another and thereby grow. Even if they are already at the leading edge, they are seeking to sharpen it even further.

Bernanke, for one, understands the importance of continuous improvement. "Continued strong productivity growth is key to an increase in our standard of living," he told about 600 professionals who gathered to hear him speak in his home state of South Carolina.

"New technologies will translate into higher productivity only to the extent that workers have the skills needed to apply them effectively," he added. "Moreover, because technology is always changing, the acquisition of those skills has become a lifelong challenge. … If recent gains in productivity growth are to be sustained, ensuring that we have a work force that is comfortable with and adaptable to new technologies will be essential."

The Fed chairman could just as easily have been talking about typical IAMC members. Even though they usually lead the pack in their chosen profession and industry, they never stop trying to push the boundary of high performance.

They are indeed a productive group, and communities across America and across the globe are better off because of them.