Blog
What if associations decided that sometimes, telling a member ‘no’ is an acceptable practice?
What if (perish the thought!), we actually told members NO? I actually suspect that most associations already do this, but we do it in the wrong way. We say “no” all the time. Only it’s…
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What if associations required every staffer to cold-call one member each week just to connect and listen?
I am reupping this post from 2009 with only minor edits, because every word of it remains true. What if EVERY staff member had to talk to members on a regular basis? Despite the existence…
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The Rise (and Fall) of Twitter
And other social media platforms, for organizational use. Thanks to the efforts of my web firm, the Spark blog has posts that go back to 2008, when I first started association blogging at Thanks For…
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Focus in a Distracted Era
I recently had the opportunity to attend my first Prometheus Retreat (more on that in a minute), and it got me thinking about the concepts of connection, distraction, unplugging, and focus, issues I’ve written about…
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Your Meetings Suck
But they don’t have to. I don’t mean your Annual Meeting, of course. If that sucks, you have MUCH bigger problems. I mean those 2 hour snooze-fests where 50% of your staff sits there on…
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Becoming a Leader
There’s plenty of advice on what it takes to be a good leader, but in my own experience, it doesn’t matter how curious or analytical or resilient you are if people don’t trust you enough…
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Of Crowdsourcing and Cassandras
Reupping this post I wrote back in 2009 about crowdsourcing, because my larger point is, I think, even more relevant in 2024. Jeff Howe, who is credited with coining the term “Crowdsourcing,” was the opening…
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Dump the Performance Review!
We all know that one of the top reasons people voluntarily leave their jobs is bad management. Bad management can express itself in a variety of ways: the infamous “one person screwed up/took advantage of…
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“It’s About Delight”
Seth Godin recently had a sort of silly story about a recent experience at Whole Foods. Which is all well and good. But one thing particularly struck me: “It’s not about charging less. It’s about…
Read More →Content Curation: Your Association’s Secret Weapon Against Information Overload
This link refers to an outdated blog post that’s been removed. May I suggest instead….? Content Curation Revisited The Spark / Content Co. collaborative whitepaper, Cut Through the Clutter: Content Curation, Associations’ Secret Weapon Against…
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