Former house speaker Tip O’Neill famously stated that “all politics is local.” The same might be said for the business of running a chamber of commerce. Established ostensibly to serve their business members, a chamber’s success is inevitably tied to the local economy, new business development and work-force preparedness (read “education”).  Because those have different faces and different visions in different communities, no two chambers are alike in the demands they have to meet or in their spheres of influence.

The American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) has been around for nearly a century, following a mission mostly dedicated to helping chamber executives – from CEOs to program managers – perform their jobs as effectively as possible. Unquestionably, chambers of commerce are politically and civically challenging organisms to operate, so an organization like ACCE becomes a critical resource for the chamber executives, directors and managers.

Imagine ACCE’s challenge as it strives to provide learning and leadership resources to those chambers. ACCE’s success is inextricably linked to the success of its members, whose success in turn is contingent upon the success of hundreds of thousands of local businesses, affected by socio-economic and geo-political forces far beyond ACCE’s control.

It’s as difficult as it is essential. As chambers look for best practices among their colleagues, they often find themselves comparing their apple to someone else’s orange. One community may be driven by strong elected leadership; another may be riding the crest of powerful corporate vision; a third may fueled by philanthropic gifts. But somewhere in that maze of models, there are chambers wrestling with similar challenges. ACCE has become the clearinghouse for ideas about and solutions to those challenges, matching its members with others addressing similar agendas.

Almost all the time, the problems can be addressed and overcome if the chamber executives have the ability to understand the nature of the problem and the wisdom (and courage) to attack the source rather than the symptom. Typically that involves building consensus and collaboration across business, political and civic spectrums. In other words: it takes leadership. THAT is ACCE’s real power: helping its members understand how to identify, respond and solve. And to lead their communities forward.

ACCE faces a tough Catch-22. In this economic climate, local and state chamber boards are scrutinizing every line item, and the temptation is to view organization dues as non-essential and, therefore, dispensable. Yet it is precisely at times like these that chamber executives need the talents and experience of ACCE and its member network to share creative solutions to complex challenges.

KCRW has been privileged to facilitate ACCE’s planning work, so we can attest to the unique value the association provides in developing strong chamber executives who build strong chambers that help drive strong economic and community development programs. And there is nothing dispensable about that.