Five words for 2010
February 4th, 2010
As we settle into 2010, I’ve been thinking about the five words on which I’ll be focused this year. I am sharing them here with the hope they may inspire association leaders throughout our community to think differently about what is possible in the year ahead. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and if you have your own words in mind, I hope you will consider sharing them.
Intention–It has never been more important for associations to have leaders, especially in voluntary roles, who are intentional about building the inventive business models, resilient cultures of shared responsibility and dynamic social systems for collaboration that will enable their organizations to thrive in the 21st century. This is the new work of governing, which needs to be an intentional and conscious process of value creation and stewardship. Unfortunately, in too many associations, governing has become a reflexive process of risk avoidance, a misguided intention that paradoxically places the organization’s future at greater risk.
“Intention is the active partner of attention; it is the way we convert our automatic processes into conscious ones.” (Deepak Chopra)
Inquiry–Complex challenges raise complicated questions, and difficult questions require thoughtful answers. Leaders acting with intention will ask these more challenging questions without fear, even when they are politically unpopular or even dangerous. The deeper value of inquiry is not found in the answers, however, but in the questions themselves, as well as the new understanding discovered between the asking and the answering. In the context of strategy development, the greatest difficulty is finding the patience to stay with and within the questions for as long as possible to build individual and systemic capacity for inquiry that is truly generative.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” (Albert Einstein)
Insight–A meaningful process of inquiry should help association leaders develop original insights into the rapidly shifting dynamics of strategic success for their organizations. For the last ten years, all association stakeholders have been confronting a set of increasingly difficult 21st century problems, a reality that will only intensify going forward. Any serious attempt to solve these problems will require fresh thinking and approaches, and the full dimension of insight needed to develop and implement those approaches will not be realized by constantly replaying conversations from the last century. Association leaders must end the self-reinforcing doom loop of past perspectives, and embrace a continuous cycle of future-focused learning.
“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
Innovation–While some have recently suggested otherwise, the pursuit of innovation is a hugely critical business decision with real-world financial implications. In 2010, association leaders should pay close attention to the global focus on innovation, as organizations of all types and in all sectors recognize that enduring value creation never occurs through adaptation. Innovation is all about the fundamental relationship between needs and solutions, and the ability of the innovator to develop deeper insights into both. As stakeholder needs become more specific and harder to articulate or quantify in traditional terms, tried-and-true solutions will fade away and even more opportunities for genuine disruption of the status quo will emerge. Associations can either defend their current turf (and sadly many will), or they can start learning the rules of the next game and figure out how to play it successfully.
“Innovation is change that creates a new dimension of performance.” (Peter Drucker)
Integration–Associations must be able to integrate what they are learning everyday into existing practice, while actively discarding ways of doing business that no longer work. This kind of capacity-building may not seem particularly exciting, but it is precisely what associations need to do to break free of the supremely lame “we have always done it that way” mindset that still prevails in so many tradition-bound organizations. Identifying next practices will be more valuable in the long run than rehabilitating so-called “best practices” now in decline. To be intentional about capacity-building, associations need leaders who will consistently choose learning by doing over knowing.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” (Albert Einstein)
What are your words for 2010? Please share them below!
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