NSSTA scheduled something totally unexpected and outrageous for its 2010 Annual Meeting. NSSTA invited Dan Clark to discuss NSSTA, the structured settlement industry and ethics.
When has NSSTA and/or the structured settlement industry ever engaged a better or more timely critic?
Clark was introduced by Joseph O'Reilly and presented himself as a former disabled person who advises professional athletes and teams (among others) on achieving high performance.
Clark's discussion about ethics and structured settlements was the antipodal response to the Rev. Oliver William's ethics discussion during the NSSTA 2009 Winter Meeting. Rev. Williams asked his NSSTA audience to identify structured settlement business conduct that caused "shocked disbelief" among NSSTA members. The only answer from NSSTA in 2009 was "structured settlement factoring".
Clark's primary message for NSSTA: "what the F... is the matter with YOU?" Clark started his discussion by answering his own question and then educated and challenged his 2010 NSSTA audience using stories and analogies. Clark's examples, highlighting current industry conduct and performance, were simple and accurate.
Clark compared NSSTA and the structured settlement industry with the "1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers". The "professionals" who play the game for commissions but never win championships. "Professionals" who create problems rather than solve problems.
Clark challenged NSSTA to change from within: "To improve industry performance, you must discuss both sides of every issue and do what is right."
Strategic questions:
- Will Dan Clark's message wake-up the structured settlement industry?
- Who among the NSSTA leaders: 1) attended Dan Clark's presentation? and, more importantly, 2) understood Dan Clark's message?
- If Karen Meyers, quoting the late James Corman, is correct - that structured settlement professionals are "on the side of the angels":
- Why is NSSTA so secretive?
- Why the closed-door meetings?
- Why the lack of disclosure and transparency for NSSTA's own members?
Strategic follow-up: among the NSSTA presentations S2KM attended in Washington, D.C., only Joseph DiGangi acknowledged and appeared to understand Dan Clark's message. In less than 30 minutes, DiGangi repeated and improved his one hour discourse from the NSSTA 2009 Winter Meeting about settlement consulting.
For S2KM's complete reporting and analysis of DiGangi's 2009 NSSTA presentation about settlement consulting plus S2KM's continuing coverage about structured settlement associations, see S2KM's structured settlement wiki.
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