Blog
Lean at 10: Culture Eats Methodology for Lunch
Ten years ago, Guillermo Ortiz de Zárate and I co-authored Innovate the Lean Way, a free monograph designed to introduce lean startup methodology to the association industry, explain why we think it’s a good fit…
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Are You Lean-Curious?
By this point, most executives have probably at least heard of lean startup methodology. You may even know that it’s used for product development, and, in the association context, particularly applicable to ideas for new…
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Retooling Your Business Model
Earlier this week, Associations Now profiled a recent report from McKinley Advisors, Business Model Innovation, in which they identify five innovation elements that can provide the revenue that fuels your association’s ability to achieve your mission:…
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Big Risk, Big Reward
This is IT. You’ve just come up with THE game-changing idea for your organization. It’s going to transform your profession or industry, bring in more members, or dramatically increase your non-dues revenue. Upside: potential HUGE…
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Reaching Detente With Your Chapters
One of the truisms of association management is that national/chapter relationships are often…fraught. Even though we’re all ostensibly on the same side, it doesn’t always feel that way. Each side feels like the other is…
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What Is Your Brand?
When I say “brand,” what do you think of? Your colors, logo, font, use of images? Your style guide (hopefully your association has one)? Nope. Those things are your brand IMAGE, but they aren’t your…
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Is a Consultant Right for Me?
You know you need help with something, but you’re not sure if you should hire a consultant, a contractor, a vendor, or add a staff position. How can you decide? I recently had the opportunity…
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Think Like a Startup
“What would it look like if our associations acted like a startup?” I was honored to be featured on a recent Professionals for Association Revenue podcast with my client Chrissy Bagby, Chief Strategy Officer, American…
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She Tells Two Friends…And They Tell Two Friends…
Remember that old Faberge shampoo commercial, where the hook was that the shampoo was SO amazing that a woman told two friends about it, and then they each told two friends, etc., until the screen…
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Can I Trust You?
I was recently thinking about something my very smart friend Jamie Notter is fond of saying: Trust and risk are correlated. As trust goes up, risk goes up. In order to lower risk, we also…
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