Many associations are slow to change. Often association leadership views change as something that disrupts the peace. They want to maintain the status quo. When beliefs that we lean on and build programming around change, we flinch. We deny. We fight and scream to maintain the past. Yet, sometimes, these changes proceed forward like waves on the beach. Nothing will stop them. Six Disruptive Issues Associations Must Face Here are six disruptive 21st Century issues that associations are … [Read more...]
Future Forward Thinking Cultures Lead To Extraordinary Results
This is part four of a series on being more future focused in our planning. See part one here, part two here and part three here. So how do we develop, foster and leverage future focused leadership? How do we encourage our committees, volunteers, staff and customers to laser focus on what’s next, what’s coming and co-creating a future together? It’s so hard to look ahead when we are often struggling with the past. Leaders need to look farther out than anyone else. Too often they have a … [Read more...]
Start Today By Stepping Into Your Future With Your Feet Firmly Planted In Reality
This is part three in a four part series on being more future focused in our planning. See part one here and part two here. Strategic foresight is a competency that all leaders need today! Yet rarely do we discuss it. Much less practice it for our future planning. And hardly ever do we foster organizational cultures of future forward thinking instead of lollygagging leadership. So how does a leader develop and refine this skill? What exactly is strategic foresight? And how can we use … [Read more...]
Foster Novelty And The Absurd as You Feed Your Brain’s Craving For Future Foresight
This is part two in a four part series. See part one here. Go ahead and admit it! If you are even a little like me, you have a curiosity for the future. I have always felt a fascination for what’s next more than a nostalgia for the past. Imagine my surprise to discover my brain is actually hardwired to foresee the future. According to neurobiologists Dr. William Calvin and Dr. David Ingvar, our drive to tell stories about our future is hardwired into our human brain. It is closely … [Read more...]
Future Focused Leadership Not Lollygagging Laggards
This is part one in a four part series on being more future focused in our planning. This illustration is part of the booklet How to Change the World. Many organization leaders take great comfort in rear view leadership. It feels safe. We know what to expect. (At least that’s what we tell ourselves and our team.) Our over optimistic belief that we can continue to do what we’ve always done is a crutch, at best. It gives us a false sense of security. Sometimes repeating the past works for … [Read more...]
You Choose: Bloated Painfully Slow Blimp Or Stealth Agile Fighter Jet
Recently I saw the Goodyear Blimp circling a major Dallas freeway. It bounced up and down with the intensity of a bobble-head-frenzy. Several times it plunged nose-first in a new direction. It was clunky and off target—at least it looked like it was astray. It was also painfully slow.Some association governance structures have bloated into blimps, frustrating everyone but the historians, legalists and nostaglists. Blimps In A World of Stealth Fighter Jets Some associations have outdated … [Read more...]
15 Disruptive Conference Realities You Need To Adopt Now [PPT]
Healthy conferences change. They adapt to new contexts, society trends and business shifts. Those that don't change become stale, stagnate and stuck in a rut. Here are 15 disruptive conference realities that you should adopt before they are forced upon you. 15 Seismic Conference & Attendance Predictions from Jeff Hurt Read More Read more about these 15 disruptive realities and predictions: 15 Predictions About Future Conferences And Shifting Attendance Part 1 Seismic … [Read more...]
Seismic Conference And Attendance Shift Predictions Part 2
Change is no longer an event that happens once in a blue moon. It is the pace of today’s business. It is the drumbeat of the 21st Century. The change that we currently see around us might one day be viewed as similar to what happened after the invention of the printing press or the internet. These are seismic shifts that will affect traditional conferences. The Conference Of Today And Tomorrow This is the second set of predictions about future conferences and shifting attendance. So … [Read more...]
