Good morning and great to see you all. This message is about adaptability. Everything must adapt or face elimination. Back in my college days I was still in, let’s say, my caterpillar stage. I was shy, an introvert, and VERY quiet. Some things don’t change … just kidding.
I knew that I wanted to be a lobbyist in D.C. and fight for just causes such as ours, but to do that I needed to evolve from my safe space of being an introvert. Over time and trials, I was able to do that and go from a quiet kid from New Hampshire to someone who took on a popular U.S. president on a first amendment issue, be on the news all the time speaking in front of thousands of people, and eventually be the tip of the spear for the lobbying community. That type of evolution is not overnight, but it does happen.
So you see, adaptability is not optional. It is the law of survival, in nature, in business, in this profession, and in life. Examples from nature show that resilience comes from small adjustments: bamboo bends in violent storms, Arctic foxes change with the seasons, and camouflage adaptations like the Blue Morph butterfly and the long-nosed horn frog help species respond to shifting conditions and threats. These examples are in line with Charles Darwin’s natural selection concept. It’s not enough to be the strongest, but success is in those that adapt to survive.
If there is one lesson written across history, across nature, and across every successful profession, it is this: Everything that survives must adapt. Everything that thrives must innovate. And everything that refuses to change eventually gets left behind. Examples in nature consistently show that survival does not belong only to the strongest; it belongs to those able to respond to changing environments. Just look at extinct apex predators like the saber-tooth tiger and the dire wolf.
We can look at mother nature to see adaptability successes. The bamboo does not survive because it is the hardest tree in the forest; it survives because it bends. Species use camouflage, seasonal changes, behavioral shifts, and life-cycle adaptations to stay alive when conditions change around them. For example, in one generation, female Mozambique elephants did not grow tusks because somewhere in their DNA is shown that elephants with tusks were being killed for them. The population rebounded due to that simple adaptation. Nature sends a clear warning: Rigidity is vulnerability, and responsiveness is strength.
And that warning is not just biological. It is economic. It is organizational. It is professional. The business world is full of once-dominant names that became cautionary tales because they failed to innovate or respond to technological and market changes. Kodak missed the digital revolution and filed for bankruptcy in 2012, while Blockbuster and BlackBerry are widely cited as examples of companies that lost relevance because they did not adapt fast enough. Blockbuster had a chance to buy Netflix when it was small, and it passed on the deal. Bad move. Extinction does not always happen overnight. Sometimes it looks like denial, delay, complacency, and the false comfort of saying, “We’ve always done it this way.”
That is why adaptability matters so deeply to the stenographic court reporting profession. At the end of the day, the court reporter should maintain continuous, end-to-end control and accountability over the creation of the record, basically call it the Responsible Charge of the record.
This profession has already proven that it knows how to evolve. Court reporting has moved from traditional stenography alone into a technology-enabled profession shaped by realtime transcription, remote depositions, cloud workflows, and hybrid legal proceedings. Technology has expanded the speed, reach, and efficiency of court reporters while reinforcing how critical accuracy and reliability remain in the legal process.
Think about what that means for you as the provider. When the legal system needed faster access, stenographic reporters delivered realtime. When proceedings expanded beyond a single room, reporters adapted to remote and hybrid formats. When technology accelerated expectations, this profession did not disappear — it modernized. Remote depositions, realtime feeds, accessibility services, and technology-enhanced transcript production are all examples of a profession refusing to stand still.
I guarantee that you are not using the same machine and technology that you had when you first graduated school.
So here is the challenge before us: Past adaptation is not a guarantee of future success. The profession is facing new and accelerating technology adoption, including so called AI-assisted transcription tools, digital reporting alternatives, and changing expectations from courts, firms, and clients.
That means this is not the moment to get comfortable. This is the moment to get bolder, faster, smarter, and louder about the value stenographic court reporters bring. Being complacent or maintaining the status quo is the best way to become extinct like the dire wolf.
It is important to understand that innovation is not surrender. Innovation is strategy. It is not about abandoning excellence; it is about amplifying it! The unmatched precision, realtime capability, professionalism, and trust that define stenographic court reporting are not weaknesses to defend — they are strengths to scale. People discussing AI taking over made a mistake! They gave us a golden opportunity to demonstrate exactly why a professionally trained human, in charge of the record, is the best way to take down the record. Which is exactly why our bill currently before Congress is about putting guardrails on the hype about AI. The record is the very last place AI should be considered and that is why we are fighting for you on Capitol Hill and in the states. Realtime integration, remote capability, advanced certification, training, and smart use of new technology all strengthen the profession’s position in a changing legal landscape. This is YOUR opportunity to show everyone why you and your skills are so important.
So, this is YOUR call to action.
The species that survive in the world are the ones that adjust before it is too late. The businesses that endure are the ones that confront change before change crushes them. And the professions that thrive are the ones that honor their core value while evolving their delivery, their tools, and their vision. Examples from both nature and business show the same principle: Adapt early, innovate boldly, or risk irrelevance.
So let us be like the bamboo — strong enough to bend, wise enough to respond, and resilient enough to keep rising. Let us reject complacency. Let us choose innovation. Let us lead this profession with confidence, urgency, and energy.
Because the future will not wait.
And neither should we.
Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC, is Executive Director of NCRA.
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