How Engagement Drives Business Results

“Our strength as an institution has always been our people.”

Doug Bird, Head of School, Culver Academy

I graduated from Culver in 1974, 52 years after my father received his diploma in 1922. Culver is a special place for me. Not only did I spend my formative high school years there learning fundamental leadership skills and values, my parents are buried in the cemetery near Lake Maxincuckee.

Like the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI), Culver is not just an institution. It is a community. And, as Dr. Bird says, the strength of a community rests within its people — how engaged members are, how willing they are to offer advice or support to their peers, and how they lead and innovate on matters important to the community. In a world and workplace marked by increased automation, I believe it is this ability to come together as human beings that will set organizations and communities apart. (McKinsey & Co., a new MSCI member, agrees human traits are more important than ever for business success.)

Why?

Technology cannot replace the serendipity of meeting a new supplier or customer at an MSCI chapter or national event. Chatbots cannot develop refined, bespoke solutions to your company’s unique needs. We can use AI to improve safety outcomes, but a single tool is not replacement for the type of human leadership MSCI mills, service centers, and affiliates have displayed through our Zero Harm, Safety Leadership initiative.

Human engagement matters.

How Can Engagement In MSCI Help Metals Companies?

There is a lot of discussion about employee engagement these days — or, rather, the lack of it. Employers are worried about employee detachment because they know high levels of teammate engagement improve productivity, retention, and innovation.

Engagement matters to any institution or community. Students at schools where there is high parent involvement perform better. Sports teams where athletes only offer the bare minimum rarely win championships. Civic engagement drives bottom up changes that make the cities and towns we live in safer, healthier, and more culturally vibrant.

Researchers at Penn State have identified several broad reasons that engagement matters. People who engage:

• Create opportunities to surface problems. Regular, on-going discussions allow people to express concerns before problems become too big or out of control.
• Create more effective solutions because drawing on knowledge from a diverse group creates solutions that are practical and effective.
• Ensure community success. The more people are willing to work toward a goal, the more likely a community is to be successful in reaching its goals. (Case in point: submitting data for MSCI’s Safety Survey.)
• Address social divides because when people from different areas of the community work together, they often find that they have more in common than they think.

Amanda Lea Kaiser, who recently led a four-part webinar series for MSCI on volunteer engagement, has articulated the business case for engagement in associations — and her argument came down to the essential human need for connection. “Professionals need to connect,” Kaiser and her colleague Bruce Rosenthal wrote. “We are not talking about transactional connections here. We are talking about real, meaningful connections. The kind of connections that energizes people, helps them feel a sense of belonging, and gets them excited to go back to the office and make a difference.”

How To Get More Engaged In MSCI

The easiest way to deepen your engagement in MSCI is to attend a regional chapter event. MSCI has 32 regional chapters in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that provide local programming for member company employees. Chapter events are easy to get to, and the networking opportunities you will find at them will boost your business. Check out our new MSCI Chapter webpage to find an event near you.

Our chapters also offer plenty of opportunities to volunteer. We would love it if you would raise your hand to support our community and become a servant leader!

For those of you who want to enhance your own skills, check out MSCI’s Knowledge and Learning Calendar and our webinar calendar. Access to our regular, one-hour webinars is complimentary with membership. These short sessions cover essential topics like safety, end use market demand, and human capital management.

MSCI’s Knowledge and Learning courses offer something for everyone — from shopfloor teammates to CEOs. Our team at MSCI also is constantly looking for new learning opportunities for our members. For example, this fall we will launch The Strategic Family Enterprise, which will address issues faced by senior leaders and owners of multi-generational family businesses.

Learn more about The Strategic Family Enterprise, and get it touch if there are specific skills trainings you would MSCI to consider developing.

A third way to engage: attend an MSCI conference. Whether you work for a mill, service center, or affiliate, these events give you an opportunity to network with metals colleagues, learn from industry leaders, and discover new tools that can help your company grow. We have several conferences coming up; please mark your calendars for:

• Sept. 9-10, 2026: MSCI 2026 Safety Summit, Schaumburg, Ill. Save the Date.
• Oct. 21-22, 2026:MSCI 2026 Economic Summit, Schaumburg, Ill. Save the Date.
• Nov. 15-17, 2026:Aluminum Conference, Park Hyatt Aviara, Carlsbad, Calif. Save the Date.

Engaging in these opportunities are just a few ways you can get maximum value from membership in the MSCI community. I hope you will take advantage of them.

Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” As the leader of this incredible community, I look forward to finding and sharing success with you.