CSI’s board of directors, if they are sincerely committed to restoring the trust of membership, need to deal with their Mark Dorsey problem. As this article makes clear, Dorsey and his cronies conceived of the scheme that led to CSI forfeiting the majority stake in the income from MasterFormat licenses to the owners of a for-profit entity. For the last six months, we have asked the board repeatedly to explain the financial arrangements behind the CIN scheme. They have refused to give us a complete and coherent response, using the excuse of confidentiality due to sensitive business negotiations.
We’ve been wondering what they are hiding, and why.
In my opinion, one of the best things the board could do, if they intend to repair their fractured relationship with membership, is announce that Mark Dorsey has left CSI to pursue other professional activities. Thank him for his contributions, wish him well in his future endeavors, give him an engraved plaque if need be. Then get on with the task of finding a management team that cares about serving the members and protecting the assets of CSI.
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George Everding FCSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA, SCIP
Greater Saint Louis Chapter
Thanks for this George. Interestingly, when I was first approached to “license” Masterformat, I was offered a Crosswalk license instead. When I pushed back and said I didn’t understand what Crosswalk was or why I needed it, someone basically told me privately that I had to get it, but I didn’t necessarily have to use it. He actually compared to your iPhone coming preloaded with apps…
I’ve heard similar stories from other companies. A lot of them signed the paperwork but very few (to my knowledge) actually have any use for it.
Crosswalk is the “product you never knew you needed,” to use a quote from another Dorsey interview. As we have been preaching for months now, Dorsey’s association management philosophy is fully revealed in published articles and interviews.
He prioritizes selling product over serving members.
It appears our CSI board has fully embraced that philosophy and, despite their recent protestations and promises, they seem to be hell-bent on providing cover for Dorsey, his cronies, and their money grabbing schemes.
And if the negotiations were anything like what I went through then…it was basically “buy this or we will sue you”. Not quite organic demand, if you ask me.
When Conspectus originally licensed MASTERFORMAT(r) AND UNIFORMAT(r) for use in Conspectus Cloud, we were told we needed Crosswalk. I politely said no thanks. I’ll take the Excel spreadsheet showing the current edition and the changes from the prior editions instead. CSI provided the spreadsheet. We never had access to Crosswalk.
I’d be interested to know what the text of the license actually said (unless confidential of course). Everyone I’ve checked with so far seems to have actually signed a Crosswalk license, not a Masterformat or Uniformat one.
In keeping with cross-posting, here is my reply to George that I posted on the CSI forum.
George,
Perhaps CSI should look at our sister organization, CSC. Recently on the retirement of CSC’s executive director, the organization searched for and found a company to run CSC. Since CSI has outsourced all staff positions, except CEO, maybe it is time to consider putting the management under a single control again, like it was when CSI had a full complement of staff to support its members.
There is one Dorsey quote about Crosswalk from the article that struck me. “The only times I’ve seen an audience be resistant is when they don’t grasp the application, which, in practical terms has meant we were talking to the wrong person.”
Now, with all the resistance to the CSI Dynamic Standards (sm), the Crosswalk successor, has Dorsey, the CSI Board of Directors, and CIN not found the right audience?
Considering the demise of Crosswalk, maybe our “dusty old Buick,” as Dorsey put it, only needed a bath and some polish — not a complete replacement.
The article was published in June 2021. The end notes reported CSI as an organization with more than 7,000 members. This year’s election reported 4,919 eligible voters (members). That is a minimum 30% membership loss in five years under Dorsey’s watch.
There is an important question to ask. What is more important to CSI members — technology or members?
Hey Dave, Dorsey was referring to CSI as a “dusty old Buick.” Because you have a love for vintage cars, wouldn’t a little tender loving care be a better solution than the junk yard?
That is a stupid philosophy. The intended audience/customer/user MATTERS.
I took a bunch of marketing classes a million years ago, and I doubt that in the years since, little has changed about the philosophy behind marketing. On the American Marketing Association website, on the “How to Conduct a Market Analysis” page, the first sentence says: “You can’t afford to make decisions without a deep understanding of your market.”
Hmmmmm…
I think someone needs to send Dorsey a link to that page. It also says later on in the page:
"Every new product launch is a bet—but with market analysis, it’s a calculated one. You’re not just asking, ‘Will this work?’ You’re asking:
Who needs this product?
What problem does it solve?
Is there room for it in the market?"
I added the emphasis above. Because it certainly seems as if NO ONE asked those questions about the Dynamic Standards. Just went ahead with it, plowing money in it.
If Dorsey is talking to the wrong person, it suggests that the “correct audience” is unknown.
The Board of Directors was asked to produce the market studies that supported the CSI Dynamic Standards(sm) development. They have not shared any studies to date. Maybe they just rode the coattails of now defunct Crosswalk and assumed there was a market for the new product. If that was the case, then the “bet” was a long-shot.
Elsewhere, it was asked if CSI was finished, and where can we look for a replacement. Maybe CSC is the answer.
(I have to say that their professional certification, Registered Specifications Writer, has a much more rigorous requirements than does any of the CSI certifications.)
I compared membership numbers between the two:
First off, it needs to be noted that the US has a significantly larger population than Canada (342.6 million vs 41.4 million, or 12%.)
CSC is losing members – they had 174 new members in 2024 but 262 members cancelled or did not renew. But I didn’t compare those numbers with CSI, since I can’t easily find it.
CSI has 5812 members in 2024 per the 2025 Annual Report.
12% of that is around 712, but CSC has 1574 members (in 2024.)
So, I would say CSC is doing better in the membership department.