Is it happening to “them” or to you?
Did you read Jeff De Cagna's article in Associations Now? It's a good one. There was some interesting blog banter not too long ago about revolution versus incremental, and we all know Jeff's on the revolution side of things (his article is titled "Embracing the Revolution" after all). It's obviously not even close to an either/or issue, and I'm glad Jeff keeps bringing our attention to trends that are going on.
I think Jeff is particularly good, in fact, at seeing things that others don't. Even when I disagree with Jeff, I'm glad I had the conversation, because at some level my eyes were opened. I felt the same way with this article. I'm behind on reading and just got to it, but I am not sure I saw much blog discussion about it, which surprises me. In wondering why, I took a closer look at the trends he was pointing out:
Democratization
Commoditization
Innovation
Fragmentation
Not new concepts obviously, and I wondered if that was part of the dynamic here. I wonder if people are skimming over the points too much. Democratization: okay, the world is flat, and people can self organize now. Got it. Commoditization: the internet has opened up information. Check. Innovation: do new things. Okay. Fragmentation: people all going in different directions. Hmmm.
If you skim over these concepts like that, you lose the value that Jeff is adding. He's writing specifically for associations and he's trying to point out that these big trends are powerfully affecting YOU (or at the very least could be). They are big trends so there is a tendency to view them as "out there." Oh yeah, I feel really sorry for the industries whose products or services became commodities, because then the prices fell and it became hard to compete. Like textile manufacturing.
No! He's talking about associations. Your meeting, your publication–things that you've always felt were unique and important and special–these are the things that are in danger of becoming commodities now. Are you on top of that? Who in your organization is talking about it? Are you even willing to consider that it might happen (is happening) to you?
Whether or not you feel comfortable with the phrase "embracing the revolution," you still need to train yourself to stay ahead of the curve. Jeff's article is a good start. What will change about you and your association when the masses get more control, or the value of what you offer drops significantly, or last year's answers lose their relevance, or "community" becomes less centralized? Associations that can answer those questions seem much more likely to succeed.
2 Comments
Bruce Hammond
You beat me to it, Jamie! I actually am behind as well and just read it on Wednesday. I enjoyed the piece as well, and totally agree that if someone only looked at the subheads, they really missed an interesting piece.
We really need to think bigger, about the ramifications if we don’t begin to think about how we’re going to be able to compete and even exist in the future.
It’s something that if people don’t dedicate time to thinking about, they will be stuck in the mud of the daily things that are going on, thus not getting prepared for the future changes that are already beginning to happen in our industry.
Anyway, thanks for the post. I think you hit it on the head, as did Jeff in his story.
maddie grant
What an awesome blast from the past. I loved re-reading all that revolution vs incrementalist debate. That was totally awesome. Anyway that’s off-topic – thanks for the heads’ up about Jeff’s article. I fully admit I skimmed it thinking I was already very familiar with Jeff’s stance on these issues – but I’ll go back and read it properly.