We Have Always Done It That Way

Leaders, and I mean real leaders, do not make excuses. Real leaders take responsibility for whatever is going on in the organization–good or bad–regardless of whether they are actually responsible for creating those circumstances. Real leaders recognize that today’s success, no matter how robust it may be, will eventually run out of steam. After all, no organization thrives in perpetuity, yet complacency is a rather common and extremely deadly affliction of the successful enterprise. On the flip side, real leaders recognize that today’s decline will get worse if intelligent decisions are not made in an effort to reverse the trend. Real leaders think clearly about what is, while also thinking creatively about what is possible. Real leaders don’t wait for conditions to irrevocably deteriorate before taking some form of action, even if that action involves risk.

So here is my question: does your association have any real leaders?

I know that posing such a direct and difficult question will raise the ire of some in our community. To be honest with you, however, we can’t worry about that because if there is anything we really have to change about associations, it is the absolutely gaping leadership gap. From my perspective, while we definitely must address significant shortcomings in the way association staff leaders are prepared for their roles, the bigger challenge for the community is with our volunteers. Throughout my career, I have been witness to extraordinary shortsightedness on the part of volunteer leaders who really should know better. In recent years, as the work of associations has become more complex and volunteers have become busier, the problem appears to have become more acute. How much longer will our community tolerate this myopia?

It is important that we not treat this inquiry as merely rhetorical. The association community must develop a next generation of staff and volunteer leaders who do not need to be persuaded to the belief that renewed success will be achieved only through radical change. In upcoming posts, I’ll have more thoughts on how we can do that.

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