For associations to thrive, they need to demonstrate ethical leadership within their respective industries. But, what does it mean to be an ethical leader in 2023?

Selecting the ideal location for your conference or event can be difficult, but in recent years social justice, equality, and political issues have emerged that have made the decision even more challenging.

It happened again. I was participating in a board of directors’ meeting and directors were discussing a critical issue. Discussion was flowing. Directors were offering good ideas, observations, and opinions, and suddenly everything stopped. This board was trying to run their board meeting using Robert’s Rules of Order, and one of the directors had just made not one, but two motions, one of which he explained “...was a main motion and the other one a subsidiary motion.” 

It would be cliché and perhaps too obvious to say that for nonprofits and associations, this year is unlike any other. And yet, here we are. Most of our in-person conferences have been cancelled. Many, if not most, of us are implementing virtual meetings and conferences. Our traditional forms of content delivery and revenue streams have been disrupted.

One of the time-honored traditions in working with association boards is that at some time someone will say something like this: “Now remember, at this meeting today I expect everyone will wear their [Association Acronym] hats.” More specifically, if a member of the board also serves on the board of another association, he or she will often be asked to “take off their [ABC Competing Association] Hat, and put on their [Association Acronym] hat.”

So, you read my last blog post about the impact that board orientation has on an organization and are now 100% convinced that an effective board orientation is important, impactful, and worth the time investment.

At a time when associations face significant challenges in revenue generation, volunteer time, resource allocation, and member engagement, it is more important than ever that boards perform effectively. Unfortunately, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that underperforming boards are distressingly common and have significant consequences on the financial performance of associations, as well as staff and board morale.

It is not uncommon for analogies to be drawn between business strategy and military strategy. One of my favorite examples is a 2016 article Australian consultant Graham Kenny wrote for Harvard Business Review. In it, he compares strategic planning in business and the military, citing an approach promoted by Moltke the Elder, Dwight Eisenhower, and Winston Churchill

There I was, standing face to face with a large, bemused group of boys about eight years old. I had just emerged from an idling bus along with seven other members of our board of directors. These kids were staring at us like we were aliens emerging from a space craft. Why the stares? Because our board of directors – composed of nurses in their 30s 40s 50s and 60s - had just converged at a laser tag facility and this horde of eight year olds was no doubt not accustomed to being booted out by a group of people the age of their parents or grandparents.