Disruption gets a bad rap. We are quick to see it as a faceless villain itching to lay waste to our future prospects. But shattering the status quo is positive and necessary. We call that type of change innovation. It happens when smart people with guts and irrepressible creative energy are left to their own…

Read More

If you’re lucky, you have colleagues who feel like family. Work families are special. The people at your job don’t have to love you, or even like you. But, if they are a bright spot in your day, it means you’re doing your part. Work families have the magic to make success a team sport.…

Read More

It’s a game! It’s a store! It’s entertainment! Nope, it’s the metaverse—a unique amalgam of online obsessions designed to keep thumbs clicking and Venmo accounts begging for cash. Or that’s what the creators of Forever 21 Shop City seem to be aiming for. Check it out. Technology research and consulting firm, Gartner, and Forbes Magazine both…

Read More

Do you have a friend whose house looks like it belongs to neat freak Felix Unger, but the closets and drawers are clearly owned by lovable slob Oscar Madison? This Odd Couple disconnect happens to even savvy digital organizations. My writing about digital leadership often focuses on values and attitudes. But attention to the infrastructure’s nuts and…

Read More

This week’s food bill could have financed last year’s luxury vacation. The grocery store receipt is an emphatic reminder of the need to provide member value. Interest rates are rising, and fears of a recession are spiking concern across the economic horizon. Are membership dues on the chopping block? If you aren’t giving members professional…

Read More

Sponsored by Impexium, Association.TV, and .orgSource Could your imagination use a recharge? Do you want the rush of a fresh perspective? If the answer is yes, I have a suggestion. Join me and some of the savviest association leaders in our industry at the Innovation Summit on June 9. This signature event is curated by…

Read More

Don Dea and Hugh Lee, the co-founders of DigitalNow, are colleagues I look to as voices from the future. In an interview for our book, “Association 4.0: An Entrepreneurial Approach to Risk, Courage, and Transformation,” Don made this prediction. “In order to help workers adapt, associations will need to find and hire terrific athletes. Talent…

Read More

Mike Moss isn’t a mechanic, but he and his team spent the last year tinkering in a garage. They weren’t taking engines apart and rebuilding them. But the work they did paid off big time. Moss is president of the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). What he refers to as “tinkering in the…

Read More

In the movie Groundhog Day, actor Bill Murray is condemned to live the same day of his life over, and over, and over again. Groundhog Day thinking is the seductive loop that lurks in offices and conference rooms tempting us to reject fresh ideas for recycled solutions. How do you resist the pull of the…

Read More