The 2021 International Society of Automation (ISA) President Steve Mustard is featured monthly on the ISA Interchange blog with a column directed toward ISA members around the world. The column speaks to current membership priorities, challenges, news, and perspectives. We invite ISA Interchange readers to engage and dialogue with Steve, and if you are not currently a member of ISA, visit www.isa.org/join to learn more about membership.

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

What do a sausage roll from the UK, doubles from Trinidad & Tobago, a meat pie from Australia, and a dosa from India have in common? These are all great snacks that I highly recommend. They also are all more expensive than the US 35-cent daily cost of ISA membership.

If you are reading this, I hope you already understand the benefits of being an ISA member and see the great value for this daily cost.

Living in Houston, I am well-aware of the many people who are facing financial hardships caused during this pandemic. If you are experiencing lay-offs, furloughs, or significant salary reductions, please contact ISA to request a waiver. In difficult times, I believe it is important to stay even closer to—and engage in—your community.

International snacks. Image courtesy of Steve Mustard.

Now for the real challenge. You understand the value of ISA, but have you shared this information with anyone else? I challenge each one of us to recruit at least one new member to ISA this year. Just imagine if our membership doubled! Imagine more discussions in ISA Connect, more networking at our local sections, more conversations with our divisions in Connect Live.

Since I became active in ISA, I have recruited at least a dozen new members from various parts of the world. It was simple in some cases: when discussing ISA-related standards, such as ISA/IEC 62443, I was able to point out the fact that members get access to read all ISA standards for free. This, on its own, is worth the price of membership. Not only can you read the standards, but you never have to worry about whether you have the latest update.

Sometimes the person I spoke to was interested in training, so I pointed to the discount they would get if they joined ISA first. I would add that they would also get discounts off book purchases in their quest to learn more about their discipline. In one case, the person joined, completed the ISA/IEC 62443 certificate program, and then went on to become a certified ISA trainer himself.

Sometimes the person I spoke to had let their membership lapse. Often it was because of work pressures or relocation. In most cases, a simple conversation reminded the person of all that ISA had to offer. Perhaps they had seen some gaps in training in their organization and had ideas about how to address these with the help ISA. Perhaps they wanted to start a local section to network with other professionals. The global pandemic has affected many in our profession. Finding a trusted network is of significant value.

Will you take up the challenge?

• Will you share with people in your organization the value of ISA membership?
• Do you see younger professionals who would benefit from networking with experienced members, as well as developing their skills and improving their knowledge?
• Do you know someone who might want to become a Certified Control Systems Technician or Certified Automation Professional?
• Is there someone who wants to develop skills in a new area, such as cybersecurity? What about the organizations you work with?
• If you work for an asset owner, do you have trusted vendors who could benefit from additional training?
• If you are a system integrator, can you recommend to your customers that they might benefit from access to ISA standards?
• If you are a vendor, do you want to get your development lifecycle, device, or system certified to ISA/IEC 62443?

If all else fails, remind people while they are eating that snack that it costs more than ISA membership, but the membership offers so many more benefits—even if the snack is tasty.

I want to hear about your efforts! When you recruit a new member, send me an email with the new member’s name.

And one reminder: ISA is your organization. You can and should join any number of our technical divisions, engage in your local section to network with peers near you, or volunteer to help ISA with global projects. Get connected by creating your profile on ISA Connect at connect.isa.org.

I look forward to working with you—and all these new members—to create a better world through automation.

Steve Mustard
February 2021