Monday Morning Mojo

Get Curious & Share What You Learn!

Last October I decided to learn more the future of association leadership. Why? Because associations provide a microcosm of the US economy. If you group together all of the professional societies, which bring together experts in a specific area of expertise, and all the trade associations, which unite business owners involved in common commerce, you have all the professions and trades of our economy represented.

Step back and now and take a look at the trends emerging in the leadership of the organizations that represent these groups and what you will see the future of collective practice as it is represented across the most important sectors and industries in America.

So, I conducted a literature search, read the books and papers I found, and went out and spoke to 25 CEOs of associations, one on one. I sat in the offices of large associations and small, asking these leaders what they thought about the future. I took what I Iearned and conducted some analysis on the responses and found six key issues.

Then I held two working sessions, inviting those CEOs and more to attend. I wrote a short executive summary, and just two days ago published a short piece on Fast Company's website that details 6 Key Issues Facing Association Leaders. I did not get paid to do any of this. I did it because I was curious.

I published because I want to share what I learned and find out what others think. I know I will be challenged in response. I am likely to get a variety of input, not all of it favorable. But, this is how dialog works.

We live in a time of unprecedented knowledge development. Look at the recent work of Gallup over the last fourteen years with their string of bestsellers. They have been pursuing some of the most challenging and helpful questions of our time, harnessing the immense force of their polling processes to help us understand how to identify and exploit our strengths, what makes for the best management, and the essential components of well-being.

Then there is Vital Smarts, a company that conducts research into what it takes to have a crucial conversation, how to deal effectively with personal and professional conflict, what it takes to influence others and change yourself - these are some of the most difficult, perplexing, and productive topics you can imagine. After they carry out their research, they turn their findings into easy-to-read, digestible books and workshops. Now their years of research can be digested in less than a day by a curious mind.

The world is now a classroom. We are all teachers and students, helping each other, opening our eyes to new and better ways to think and act. What are you curious about? What are you learning? How can you tell others what you find out?

“The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom.”

― Jon Stewart

7 Common mistakes leaders make when it comes to succeeding at innovation:

1. They don’t think in terms of inflection points, looking for decisive shifts before they occur and preparing to take advantage of them when they emerge.

2. They don't build the foundation required to successfully develop new ideas and take them to market.

3. They don’t collect the necessary intelligence to ensure circumstances are conducive to their new offerings.

4. They don’t take advantage of market disruptions.

5. They don’t think through value from the customers’ point-of-view.
book image Getting Innovation Right

6. They don't systematically use existing offerings to create more and better value.

7. They don’t drive the required uptake to increase and accelerate market acceptance.

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VisionaryLeadership.com