With All Due Respect…
With all due respect, I think we should eliminate the phrase "with all due respect" from use! I hear it all the time, and it ostensibly is trying to reassure someone that even though I disagree with you, that d ...
Category: Individual Development
Be Honest: Do You Say Yes Anyway?
I was having an interesting conversation yesterday with an association executive about the phenomenon of trying to say yes to everyone. It seems to be a common occurrence in the association world. We say yes to everyone, ...
Our Dangerous Obsession with Answers
I've made reference in a few different blog posts (here recently and here from the Association Renewal blog) to my concern about our society's obsession with answers. Patti Digh recently referred me to this blog post abo ...
Blogging, Speaking, and Leadership
Maddie Grant put up a stupendous post on the first day of the ASAE Annual Meeting in San Diego. She did a session in San Diego, and it was her first time speaking, and in preparation she discovered an equally super post ...
The Value of Theory
I had a great conversation with a good friend of mine yesterday. He's a client and an association exec and someone I like to talk shop with because he's not afraid to push back and call it like he sees it. This time he w ...
Seeing the Truth
Lisa Junker (of Acronym) left a great comment on my last post about Assumptions and Complexity:Great post, Jamie! And great advice. It's something I've been thinking about lately myself, so I'd offer one addendum: Be awa ...
Assumptions and Complexity
Michelle Carter has an interesting post about being open minded versus closed minded. It emerged from a job description she saw that required candidates to be open minded (who, exactly, would ever claim they are closed m ...
The Gamer Disposition
The February 2008 HBR also had their annual list of "breakthrough ideas." John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas wrote about the "Gamer Disposition." Although they don't mention it, this has been cited as a generational ...
The Danger of the Bubble
There has been some conversation on the ASAE listserve about social responsibility and the environment: in short, can we change the way we do things (flying all over the place to attend meetings, for instance) so that we ...
Welcoming Bad News from Employees
There is a nice, brief article in the Forethought section of HBR this month about the issue of delivering bad news to bosses. Everyone knows that as a boss it is important to receive bad news. The dynamics of systems whe ...