A Night at PJ Toastmasters Club
28 April 2021
When our founder, Dr Ralph C. Smedley started the first
Toastmasters Club in 1924, the admission was exclusive for young men. I find it utterly sexist. Why not allow the young ladies as members too? But after some thoughts,
I realized his decision to set the club only for young men was extremely wise, even
though it is not well accepted in today’s context.
The clue lies in official history narrative: “Smedley saw a
need for the men in the community to learn how to speak, conduct meetings, plan
programs and work on committees, and he wanted to help them.” It hinted that
young men then were in “bad shape”. If the young men can’t lead, can’t speak
and communicate well, how can they attract a decent wife? If these young men
can’t get their spouses, that will be disastrous to human race. Plus, young men
tend to have an inferiority complex. Dr Ralph did not want to embarrass them
in front of ladies. Thus, the decision
of the club to be exclusive for young men. Wise decision indeed and being sexist
appropriately. Disclaimer: Please, those
were my hypothetical deductive reasoning.
I’m honored and privileged to be PJ Toastmasters Club 250th
meeting. That means it has over 5 years of vibrant history. This club had
delivered the Toastmasters meeting experience, so much more than what was
written Club Leadership Handbook. Well done!
I had a great conversation with your President, Shane Chooi,
before coming to this meeting. I appreciate his courage, vulnerability and
trust to share with me his challenges and personal vision of leading this
wonderful club. That is the hallmark of a great leader – he cares.
We join Toastmasters because we are attracted and driven
by its mission: Where leaders are made. We want to hone our leadership,
communication and public speaking skills. At the same time people stay or leave
Toastmasters Club, for that matter, any organization, driven by one single
human emotional need: Acceptance. We stay in the Club as we feel accepted by
the Club members. We leave the Club because we no longer feel accepted by the
members. Acceptance is the main emotional driver behind the club membership.
To keep and grow our club memberships, our role as a leader, as the Exco team, is to make our members and potential members feel accepted when they are in our club. Ironically, in order to keep and attract new members, I realized I had a much deeper homework to do. That first step, as a leader, we need to accept ourselves. We need to learn to acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses, and leverage both to the best advantage for ourselves and club members. If we can’t even lead ourselves, speak constructively to ourselves, we will find ourselves in a difficult position to lead others.
Make
no doubt about this: There will be times we as leader doubt our own values.
This is when we need support from our team members. Accept
and appreciate that each of us in the team have our strengths and shortcomings. Demonstrate
that value of acceptance. The club members will follow.
In my 10 months of serving as Exco team during this pandemic, I learn an important lesson: We can not unite our club members’ dreams,
but we can unite them through a common goal. As Exco team, we need to
understand what our members’ goals in life are, what do they want to achieve by
joining us. Find out the reasons of your new member joining the club, find out
why your club members kept their membership, find out the reasons of your
ex-members leave the club – you may find the DNA aka as your unique club
culture. Defining this culture will serve as a catalyst, a common goal to unite
the club members.
I encourage you to define the culture of PJ
Toastmasters Club. What makes you unique out of hundreds of clubs within Klang
Valley alone. Why should they join you? What can you offer to your club
members? Tell us, what do you stand for. Mold and built the club, bind it tight with sense of acceptance among members. With this, the club can be strengthened, grow
and attract new members who believe what you believe in.
I will describe PJ Toastmasters Club culture with 3 words:
Innovative, Progressive and Fellowship. This is seen through innovative,
professional solutions of having hybrid meetings. You have inspired MC Jo to
follow your footsteps. Despite all challenges we faced, the club members still
join the meeting in a spirit of fellowship. I find it very inspiring.
The well being of the club is the responsibility of all
members. Exco have executive power to act on behalf of members for their well being.
Yes, indeed, it takes courage to lead. You will be given hard lessons to learn more
about yourself. You will be thrown into uncomfortable challenges and changes.
But one thing for sure: It is worthwhile. Because by the end of tenure, you get
to know yourself better, lead yourself better, speak to yourself better, and
ultimately, accept yourself better for who you are. With that self-acceptance,
you can be a better leader. That is when you bring positive impact to people around you.
I believe the first step of leadership is self-acceptance. I
believe by setting our club unique culture right, we can grow together in a
more meaningful manner for all members. I hope I added value to your club
tonight. It is a great honor and privilege to be with PJ Toastmasters Club and I look
forward for more memorable moments together at Area level.
Alan Oh
Your friendly friend from Friendship TMC
