As 2020 APA president, I am taking a somewhat different approach to the presidency. Let me explain. The traditional role of APA president has been to identify and enact a set of personally generated initiatives—a very reasonable approach in the past. However, we now have a robust set of APA strategic goals to accomplish, so I’m calling on you to be leaders with me this year—to help our association, discipline and profession focus primarily on the strategic plan that our entire membership co-created. I need your input to begin accomplishing the plan’s four strategic priorities:
- Use psychology to make a positive impact on critical societal issues.
- Prepare the discipline and profession of psychology for the future.
- Elevate the public’s understanding of, regard for and use of psychology.
- Strengthen APA’s standing as an authoritative voice for psychology.
These goals are ambitious, ambiguous and aspirational, suggesting that there are many routes to fulfilling them. That means no one person or leader can or should determine how to enact them. Rather, we need to work together to support, drive and achieve them, recognizing that they will probably change and evolve over time.
Those of you who know me are probably not surprised at the direction I am taking as president. Much of my work as an applied psychologist has been to help people develop leadership skills under ambiguous circumstances—embracing uncertainty while moving boldly into a future that we ourselves help create. (For interested psychologists, I will make leadership development opportunities available this year—stay tuned.)
So, instead of beginning with my personal initiatives and creating groups to fulfill them, this year I’ll be meeting with leaders, members and colleagues inside and outside of our discipline to spur thinking on how we want to start fulfilling our strategic goals. I’ll communicate with you about those ideas, projects, plans and emerging initiatives, and I’ll seek your input for developing them further.
APA and our field have many challenging, confounding, exciting and important issues to address in our 128th year. Pooling our collective talents, we can elevate psychology’s impact and serve the public in new and creative ways.
