A candid conversation with President-elect Glenn E. Estess

Glenn E. Estess, the incoming RI president for 2004-05, will lead Rotary during an exciting and historic year: the Rotary Centennial, which will culminate with the RI Convention in Chicago , 18-22 June 2005. A Rotarian since 1960, Estess belongs to the Rotary Club of Shades Valley, Ala., USA, and will be the third RI president from the Birmingham area (following Frank E. Spain in 1951-52 and Roy D. Hickman in 1972-73). He is a past Rotary Foundation trustee and a past RI director, serving as RI vice president in 1991-92. Recently, he sat down with Editor in Chief Vince Aversano to explain his vision and goals for Rotary.

What has prepared you to be RI president?

That's a hard question to answer because I've been in Rotary since 1960. I keep going back to my experiences at the club. When I was elected president of my club, one of our senior members said, "Estess, our club's strong enough to survive anybody for a year," so perhaps that's applicable to being named president of RI as well. [Laughter.] But I think my real strength in Rotary came from my early beginnings as club officer and club president. Of course, the other jobs I've held — district governor and RI director — were extremely beneficial. But the real foundation was at the club level.

How did you get involved in Rotary?

I had four older brothers who were Rotarians, and while I was not really involved in Rotary at the time, through them I came to admire what Rotary can accomplish. And so when I was invited to join, I was excited. I was in Jacksonville ( Fla. , USA ) and was invited to be in Club 41 [the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, the 41st club chartered]. Incidentally, Paul Harris lived in Jacksonville at one time and worked for a man who later became a charter member of the Jacksonville club.

How did you feel when you learned of your nomination?

Well, it was obviously an honor and a humbling experience. Your first reaction is to ask yourself, "Am I the right person?" I guess in a moment of self-humor I thought, Well, maybe they just asked the person who had been in Rotary the longest! But perhaps the major thing that got to me was the overwhelming expression of support, not just congratulations, I received from people all over the world.

How do you see your role as president? Do you feel the role of president has changed over the years?

Technically, the president is the chief executive officer of the organization, but I see the general secretary as the one who manages operations. I see the president as having more of an ambassadorial role. I think that is what Rotarians expect. They want to see the president. They want to talk to the president. They want to feel like they've made some personal contact with the president. And I have to keep reminding myself that it is not Glenn Estess that they want to see, but the RI president. I think my role is to serve these Rotarians. If you were to create an organizational chart, then the president should be at the bottom, and the 1.2 million Rotarians would be at the top. To me, the most important officer in the organization is the club president.

Is it desirable to have a U.S.-born president during the centennial year?

Well, that is an interesting question, but I think it was more by happenstance. Some years back, the board passed a resolution saying that the presidency should rotate to a minimum of two other countries before it comes back to the first country. This meant Rotary would have an American president no more often than every third year. I don't know if anybody thought at the time that it could result in there being an American president for the centennial year.

What would you say to any Rotarians who feel that the organization is U.S.-centric? It may not be a prevailing thought, but it's an opinion that leaders sometimes encounter.

I hear that as well. Of course, Rotary started in the United States , and Rotary was very U.S.-focused for a long time because a large proportion of the membership lived here. But now about one-third of the membership — 440,000 to 450,000 — is in North America, and U.S. Rotarians have played a major role in expanding Rotary to other parts of the world. That shows that North American Rotarians want us to be a truly international organization. North Americans on the board are now a minority, and board members are frequently reminded that they represent all Rotarians.

What would you hope to accomplish next year as president?

Well, of course one goal is to finish what we started with the polio immunization program in the 1980s. I would also hope to see added emphasis on creating diversity within the organization. That would include minorities and others who have not yet been involved in the leadership of Rotary. We want to encourage them to be more involved and maximize the use of their talents.

If there were one change you could make instantly, would it be to make Rotary more diverse?

That's not really a change because we have always been working toward diversity, but perhaps the effort has not been as visible as it could be, and I would like to see more emphasis on this during the coming year. We need to enhance what we are doing now.

What inspired your choice of Celebrate Rotary as the RI theme?

One of the things you do at an anniversary is celebrate, so it seemed a logical theme for next year. There have been many things worth celebrating in the 100 years that we have been in existence. The polio effort is our first major corporate project, and when we measure our progress, we've been extremely successful, and that's a cause for celebration. And while we've enjoyed some extraordinary recognition because of PolioPlus, the strength of Rotary is still at the club level. So I thought about how all the clubs and districts work to build Rotary, and I kept coming back to the idea that this year we ought to celebrate what we've done and focus on the future.

What effect do you feel the RI Strategic Plan adopted by the Board of Directors will have?

It is something we've long needed. There was a feeling at some point that maybe it was impossible to have a strategic plan because of the annual leadership changes, but I think every major organization needs something like this. I see the strategic plan helping us achieve continuity in the organization. The only way you can have true continuity is to have it set forth in the constitutional documents, which requires the approval of the Council on Legislation. So I see the Strategic Planning Committee as a group that will objectively come together with ideas that will be beneficial to the organization, put them in writing, and submit them to the council. It will have a long-term positive impact on the organization.

What is your relationship with President Jonathan Majiyagbe and President-nominee Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar?

It couldn't be more positive. Past RI President Bhichai Rattakul and now President Majiyagbe were very receptive to me when I came aboard as nominee. I hope that President-nominee Carl-Wilhelm will feel the same way, and I think he does. We are working hard to bring about the continuity that I spoke of earlier. When I was naming committee chairs, I always asked the president-nominee for his input as to the people he would want to use the following year.

What would you like to say about yourself to Rotarians who haven't had a chance to meet you?

Well, I'd like to let them know that I am an ordinary Rotarian. My purpose is to do the same thing that they do: follow the ideal of Service Above Self. We all should serve the needs of our communities but also realize that the needs in every community are different. If a Rotary club wants to start a project, instead of saying to the community, "This is what we want to do for you," we need to find out what they need first and then work with them.

Who have been your greatest influences?

I'd have to say my immediate family. My father was a farmer, and he was not a Rotarian. In fact, we didn't have Rotary clubs where I grew up. I had an older sister who recently passed away at the age of 98 after a great life. She had a tremendous influence on my life. My brothers and sisters and I developed our values as we went through life, and much of that was formed through our relationships. So while we put emphasis now on the family of Rotary, I think we had that all along but just didn't have a name for it.

Do you see Rotary emphasizing the family during your term as well?

We will have four major emphases: family of Rotary, water, health concerns, and literacy. At a meeting at the United Nations, I learned that more than one million people live without clean water and, as a result, some 6,000 people, mostly children, die each day. In the area of health concerns, malaria is ravaging many countries, and millions of people are infected with HIV/AIDS. In the area of literacy, more than two billion people can't read. Rotary is already involved in these issues, but I would hope to enhance those efforts in the coming year.