It's almost a year since I became APA's CEO, and what a whirlwind experience this has been. I have traveled the country, speaking at state psychological association meetings and universities. I've met scores of psychologists who have voiced pride in psychology and our association. And I've heard echoes of my desire for APA to lead and be bold—to become the change we want to see in the world.
Approaching issues from a different perspective to increase our impact will require transformational change in our field and in APA. While the association will undertake a formal strategic planning process in 2018, we have already begun to deploy five key strategic approaches that build on APA's past successes.
First, we will increase the visibility of psychologists and psychology and continue to build and improve APA's mission-driven brand. We will work to better educate the public about psychology through vital partnerships with other organizations, through APA publications and through the media, ensuring that psychologists' perspectives are reflected in news coverage of critical topics.
Second, we will raise the visibility of basic and applied psychological science. In so doing, we hope that psychological scientists will come to regard APA as the professional home that meets their career needs, and that the public will see the value of psychological science. We are excited about our upcoming Technology, Mind & Society conference, to be held April 5–7 in Washington, D.C., since it highlights psychology's role as a science.
Third, we will strengthen our voice on Capitol Hill and in policy discussions that affect our field and the public. While APA has a seasoned and well-respected government relations team, only a fraction of our 115,000-plus members are politically engaged. We have retooled our electronic advocacy resources (see www.apaservices.org/advocacy) and will be calling on our members more often to act as advocates on issues of importance to psychology.
Fourth, we are committed to preparing APA as an organization for the future. That means working with our members and governance groups to co-create a new, compelling vision as we develop our strategic plan.
Finally, we must prepare the discipline psychology for the future. Psychology affects every aspect of our lives, from promoting overall health to preventing gun violence to improving workplace productivity to developing self-driving cars.
We must position our field—and train the up-and-coming generation of psychologists—to play a leading role in applying psychological knowledge to addressing the grand challenges of today and the future.
Working together, we can ensure that psychology realizes its true potential—as the key to a better world.