Association leaders, the time to experiment is right now
Right now, as we face the global pandemic that is COVID-19, our environment offers both the best reason and the best opportunity we’ve ever had for our industry to rapidly experiment with a purpose of spawning transformation and building resiliency. Right now, we should start planning and executing simple business experiments, carry forward the successes, […]
Feeling stuck? Moving on is actually quite simple
Being able to simplify something complicated is not easy or intuitive. In an overly complex world, simplifying our personal and professional lives is fast becoming a foundational value that cannot be ignored. Just look around: Companies that simplify our lives are thriving. Unstable complexity is the enemy I have a friend, Rod Graber, who owned […]
How-To: Simplify Your Approach To Brand
Early on, the first brands were used by ranchers to identify their cattle. Later, as packaged consumer goods entered the market in the 19th century, brands evolved into markers that companies like Kleenex and Coca-Cola used to differentiate themselves from competitors. It was simple. But branding isn’t so simple anymore. Brand is about more than […]
Time for a new association verb
THREE VERBS After 20 years working in VP, COO, CFO and CSO roles for associations, it’s become clear to me that our industry shares many common approaches to helping our members lead, learn and connect. At a high level, associations often apply these three verbs on their web sites and in their various marketing campaigns. Many of […]
ARE YOUR PRODUCTS AGING LIKE WINE OR FORGOTTEN YOGURT?
Our members are our consumers. Collectively, they buy millions of products & services (including membership) from our associations every year. Many associations offer multiple product lines and multiple products in each product line, such as: membership publications (magazine, newsletters, blogs, etc.) certifications research, data, & analytics education events (conferences, seminars) online learning (webinars, e-learning, virtual events) […]
A futurist’s view: On the Amazon of certifications
Association leaders need to be futurists and makers. It’s that simple. We can no longer bask in the effervescent glow of 100 year-old business models and think our non-profit halos will protect us from massive disruption. It’s time to reinvent. Get nervous: Be bold If you’re not designing a new future for your association right […]
The association business model: It’s time for a massive overhaul
Most associations professionals would agree that meeting member needs is at the heart of every decision made. Yet over the last 40 years, most professional associations have been adopting a product-line business model. In addition to membership, we create and try to sell access to products like newsletters/publications, research, online education, meetings and conventions, certifications, […]
On becoming the Netflix of associations
What does it mean to build a purpose-driven organizational structure? I don’t mean just aligning various departmental visions, or stamping down silos that might be blotting out communication in your existing organizational hierarchy. I mean actually creating a structure that is, from every angle, purpose-driven. Answering this question has been an integral part of a […]
Measuring Success: Why We Should Focus on Cause Before Effect
The measure of a project’s success tends to be in the quantifiable effects it produces. We might look to membership numbers or revenue, for example, to assess how successful our particular ventures have been at this level of effect. However, it is not always useful to focus on these final outcomes when implementing a project. Especially when […]
On the Power of Prototyping
Previous pieces of mine might have hinted at my commitment to the principles of Design Thinking (if you haven’t got that hint yet, I invite you to have a read). On top of the flexibility and open-mindedness of this methodology, there’s another reason why an empathetic, iterative process of discovery makes for an excellent problem-solving tool: not all […]