Onboarding the Board—Your Opportunity to Promote Peak Performance

How would you describe your board’s performance? Is it— the organization’s greatest asset? They are wise stewards of our resources and visionaries who identify strategies for future growth. a thorn in the side? They are contrarians lost in the weeds who impede our progress. inconsequential? They are crickets, disinterested or afraid to debate and express […]

Diversity Can’t Stand Alone—It Needs Equity and Inclusion To Matter

Like a string of beads, it is our unique differences and intricacies that make us so appealing and attractive. We would not be as beautiful if we were all the same. It’s the contrast and asymmetry that makes us worthwhile.— Lindsey Lunsford, M.E.M., eXtention Foundation, 2019 Impact Collaborative, DEI Fellow One of my early jobs was […]

Smart Sourcing Puts the World of IT Talent Within Reach

If you recently discovered that your IT bench is missing some important players, you are not alone. As increasing numbers of organizations move toward digital transformation or to strengthen data security, there is a shortage of talent to take them where they need to go. Outsourcing, once a stopgap solution, has become smart sourcing, and […]

Member Value Equals Sponsor Value

Digital Strategies Deliver the Goods If an abrupt pivot wasn’t part of your previous business experience, it’s on your radar now. One of my personal pandemic resets taught me that sometimes a sudden challenge is also an “aha moment”. Of the many shifts in strategy .orgCompanies made over the last year, .orgCommunity’s approach to sponsorship held one […]

Grow Your Team’s Skills, But Don’t Forget Yourself

Smart CEOs understand that the quickest path to success is the one where the team travels with you. Skill-building across the organization isn’t just good leadership, it’s good for leaders. Professional development is a wise use of resources. Just be sure to make yourself part of the group. Your own growth shouldn’t be stunted because […]

Customer Experience Lifts Service to the Stratosphere

  These comments from McDonald’s CEO, Chris Kempczinski to New York Times journalist David Gelles describing how the pandemic would change the company’s business resonated with me on a couple of levels. “We had to pivot to basically being an entirely drive-through, delivery, and curbside pickup business, and I think that’s going to still be an enduring […]

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 […]