A Day of Blue Sky Thinking—Recapping .orgCommunity’s 2021 Innovation Summit
Greg Larkin, our keynote speaker at .orgCommunity’s July 14 Innovation Summit, was quick to admit that he was feeling a little rusty being in front of an audience for the first time in over a year. “I’m freaking out,” was what he actually said. Personally, I counted down the days until my reentry to the conference world of […]
Empower Strategy by Incorporating Trends
Getting strategic planning right is challenging in the best of times. This season of disruption adds additional complexity and brings significant shifts in perspective that are important to recognize as associations prepare for the years ahead. I’ve been advising .orgSource clients to integrate strategy across organizational activities since long before the pandemic. If I ever […]
Diversity Rules the Global Economy, Step Up to Success
We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now. Martin Luther King, Jr. The proof that we are citizens of the world, no matter how fiercely we choose to localize, was one of the pandemic’s profound lessons. Technology has created an interdependent global economy. What happens in a province […]
Labor Shortages Loom—Learn to Hire and Manage Freelancers
Anyone who has spent time here in Chicago knows that the weather can turn from sunshine to flurries in the time it takes to stroll a block down the Mag Mile. This fickle about-face seems to be happening everywhere. We spent the last year urging people to stay home. Now the focus has abruptly changed […]
Digital Transformation—Once an Option, Now a Necessity
When do you stop having a choice? In May 2019, when the panel discussion below was first published in the .orgSource newsletter, digital transformation probably wasn’t top of mind for most association leaders. Since 2020 taught us that only the digital survive, new strategies and approaches for IT are on every agenda. The question is […]
Normal Left the Party—Survey Reveals Associations Want Her Back
What should we call it—the New Normal, the Next Normal, Another Normal? Please let go of normal. When the DJ stopped playing oldies, Normal left the party. Since well before the pandemic, I’ve been urging my colleagues and clients to consider that stability in the digital marketplace is a dangerous illusion. Guiding our association clients […]
Send Culture to the Door When Trouble Comes to Call
I frequently write the words digital and success in the same sentence. Technology is important. A weak infrastructure at the beginning of 2020 meant it was a very hard year. As much as I value electronic connectivity, culture or the human side of business will always be the imperative. We may never experience another global […]