Association boards, CEOs and senior executives will need to answer a wide variety of questions as they embark on the work of developing new business models to enable their organizations to thrive over the next decade and beyond. Of unique importance, however, will be how these leaders work through three critical design challenges that may well determine whether their new business model concepts will be able to achieve both purposeful impact and sustainable profitability. The practical challenge: Making the shift from membership-centric to value creation-centric business models. . MORE >>

Over the next six weeks, I will publish a post on each of the six shifts presented in my new e-book, Associations Unorthodox: Six Really Radical Shifts Toward the Future , created in collaboration with CHIEF. If If you have not done so already, I hope you will download the e-book today. Also, please join me on September 26 from 2 pm-3:30 pm EDT for my webinar on the e-book, presented in collaboration with Peach New Media. As always, I invite your feedback in the comments below, or you can join the Associations Unorthodox conversation on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #auxsix. MORE >>

Membership is perhaps the most sacred tenet in all of association orthodoxy. Indeed, for many organizations, the membership imperative defines the very existence of the association:  membership is who they are and what they do. In a time of relentless societal transformation, however, the impact of forces beyond our control makes it necessary for us to question all of our most deep-seated beliefs, including our beliefs about membership. In this three-part series, I am sharing five critical reasons why the continued emphasis on membership is “killing” association business models. MORE >>

This post originally appeared on the Associations Now Leadership Blog on March 7, 2013. In a  recent post ,  Associations Now  blogger Joe Rominiecki shared what both he and I regard as a startling fact: 53 percent of associations surveyed in 2011 had raised their dues in the previous three years. To put it another way, during the most severe economic decline in most of our lifetimes, more than half of associations surveyed still moved forward with a dues increase. No other single revenue category comes close to reaching that number. Thank you! Business Model Innovation Strategies for Progres MORE >>

Now that my new e-book , Associations Unorthodox: Six Really Radical Shifts Toward the Future , has been out for a couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to step back and reflect on the reasons why I wrote it, as well as its deeper implications for association leaders. hope this post helps to explain my motivations, and places the e-book in a broader context. Associations Unorthodox is a set of approaches for breaking free of the past– The six shifts discussed in the e-book were not accidental selections. What do you think? What are you taking away from Associations Unorthodox ? MORE >>