by RON STARNER
Ron.Starner@IAMC.org

Ron Starner, executive director of IAMC

Sometimes, the words we use deliver an immediate impact.

There was no better example of this than the comments of Dr. William Poole, the keynote speaker at the Oct. 9 luncheon session of the Industrial Asset Management Council in St. Louis.

The president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank told an audience of 300 IAMC Professional Forum attendees that while financial markets had appeared to stabilize, they were still "fragile."

Because three international news organizations were there to cover Dr. Poole's speech — reporters from Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Reuters — the Fed president's comments were dispatched to financial markets within seconds.

Almost instantaneously, the price of U.S. Treasury Notes began to drop, setting off an afternoon frenzy of buying and selling and a flurry of market analysis.

In the long run, however, the U.S. economy will revert to its pattern of what Dr. Poole calls "The Great Moderation" (a "period of relatively stable GDP growth") and the prices of Treasuries will stabilize.

Given the economy's natural bent toward self-correction, Dr. Poole's comments will be placed in their proper historical context.

So too will the words of seven IAMC members to a gathering of faculty and students Oct. 10 at St. Louis University. But in this case, the words have the ability to last a lifetime.

The fifth installment of what's called the "IAMC On-Campus Learning Event," the post-Forum college session provided IAMC members a unique opportunity to interact directly with the corporate real estate leaders of the future.

Judging from the responses of the college students — many pursuing a master of urban planning and real estate development — the association members took advantage of that opportunity.

Past Chair Scott Reed of Anheuser-Busch emphasized the critical importance of acing the job interview; new Chair Pete Garra of the Linde Group spoke of the tremendous benefit he receives from participating in an industry-focused association; and Jeff Adelson of Boeing shared the value of working collaboratively in teams as a key component of career success.

Sharing equally valuable lessons on life and career were Susan Reber of Air Products, Vicki Horton of SC&H Group, David Snyder of Constructors & Associates, and Jim Alexander of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association.

In each case, the IAMC member gave practical lessons from a career path that, in most cases, was not deliberately planned. All extolled the virtues of lifelong education — the main reason they keep coming back to IAMC Forums twice a year.

The "back to school" segment of IAMC generates relatively little attention, certainly not of the scope of a Federal Reserve Bank president's address, but the campus event is truly one of the more impactful things our members do at each biannual gathering of the association.

Unlike Dr. Poole's comments, the words of IAMC members at these college meetings don't make an immediate impact.

Rather, the words shared with students have a much longer shelf life. They have the ability to give guidance and hope to young people who one day will pursue a career in industrial asset management, commercial real estate or economic development.

No, the words of IAMC members on campus don't shake up markets or cause financial editors to rewrite the day's top headlines.

They simply change lives.