Blog
Innovate Now! But How?
Associations are constantly being urged to innovate, but frankly, in a world of generative AI, venture capital, nanotechnology, medical advances, and big R&D budgets – none of which we have access to on a regular…
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Velvet Rope or Come Party with Me?
Scene one: I’m in New Orleans on vacation wandering down Frenchmen Street in Faubourg Marigny looking for a good place to hang out and hear some tunes on a Wednesday night. First stop: the Spotted…
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What if associations offered no agenda at the next staff retreat other than “show up and talk about how we can be better?”
What if the only thing associations focused on was: “How can we be better?” I think this gets to some of the other questions, like: What if we forgot about petty internal politics and focused…
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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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