Empower Yourself

Aug
09

Workshopping Innovation: How We Taught Design Thinking

It is one thing to commit to a pathway towards innovation. Bringing people along the road with you, however, can be an innovation project in itself. The process of teaching a new framework, or inspiring your team to embrace a different methodology, is its own opportunity to create and discover. Recently I had the chance to […]

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Jul
30

Human Capital: Nurture Personal Value to Increase Organizational Success

The value of a business is a function of how well the financial capital and the intellectual capital are managed by the human capital. You’d better get the human capital part right. ~ Dave Bookbinder, Author of The New ROI: Return on Individuals The concept of human capital is not spoken about enough. As I imagine […]

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Jun
17

Association Management and Corporate Management: How Do They Diverge?

Coming from the corporate world, when I first started working in an association 27 years ago I thought the job of an association executive would be a walk in the park. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Fast forward to today, and I am still learning. I am involved in at least three other associations, one […]

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Apr
30

SURGE Spring: Know Before You Go

SURGE is our free virtual conference for association professionals – and it’s happening May 2-4th! Here are some things to know before you go: THE BASICS What to expect: The event consists of 12 thought-provoking sessions, shown over three days, from 12-4PM EST. As the sessions play, an attendee chat will run alongside. Speakers will also be in […]

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Apr
17

Keep Your Eyes Open: Unorthodox Learning

Learning is everybody’s job. Five or ten years ago, people at work might have thought, I’m just a cog in the wheel, done their job, and survived. However, that attitude is not viable today. The world is changing too fast to rest on our laurels. Without ongoing learning efforts, organizations (and people) become stagnant and suffer. Everyone has […]

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Apr
03

Association Board Leaders: Move Gracefully Off the Scene

Grace (ɡrās). Noun. A way of moving that is smooth and attractive. A controlled, polite, and pleasant way of behaving in social situations. ————— As a former association leader, you need to move gracefully off the scene. You have played a leadership role at your association. Maybe as the President, or Treasurer or Member of […]

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Mar
06

Evaluating Our Leadership Styles

I recently published an article about authentic leadership, directing people’s attention towards the leadership structure of their organization in order to feel its social, economic, political and environmental pulse. The experience of being interviewed provoked me to reflect on my personal leadership style, the leaders around me, and what authenticity means for the way we organize our […]

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Feb
27

Demystifying AI: Q&A with Guillermo Ortiz de Zarate

Editor’s note: Associations everywhere are using AI to make their processes more efficient. We’ve all heard by now of the radical potential of AI, but it can be hard to connect the dots from these big ideas to small practical steps. We want to demystify AI to make it accessible to techies and Luddites alike! Recently, we […]

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Feb
19

My Music at Work: Why Sound Matters In Your Office

In our experiences, we tend to focus on looks before sound. We ask, Have you seen the new Stars Wars? – but the movie theatre uses dozens of speakers to immerse us in the environment of a single projected image. Similarly, articles focus on visual aspects of an office: should there be many desks or no walls or […]

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Jan
18

Volunteers Vs. Staff: Overcoming Different Perspectives

One thing that associations all have in common is a sense of purpose.A vision of a common good is the axis upon which the internal workings of an association spins – or at least should spin. This distinctive aspect of the industry is disturbed by the fact that associations are also unique in their design: […]

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