I started to write my own New Year’s post several times … you know the “resolutions list” or “advice on resolutions” or even the “big questions we need to ask ourselves” post. But frankly I’ve having too much fun (and truth be told creative sparks) from the ones I’m reading. So, here are the gems I found – hope you get a creative spark too!
If You Don’t Know What To Do, Do The Opposite, John Haydon gives us food for thought on getting “unstuck” on those areas where you just aren’t making the nut. On my part, I am going to look at what happens when my face-to-face chapter meetings are offered free? (Need some help on this, check out Acronym’s Questioning Conventional Wisdom edition post.)
The Best Way to use the Last Five Minutes of Your Day, Peter Bregman gets us thinking about our own professional development and really happiness. I’m seeing here a personal commitment and also asking my board to adopt this as a regular final agenda item.
Five Lessons from 2010 Worth Repeating – Without Repeating 2010, Rosabeth Moss Kanter highlights a few learnings that we need to adopt as mantras for 2011. I’m going to take #4 and really evaluate how I can bring openness and inclusion into my chapters. I think it begins in part with opening up the board work – but doing so in an interesting and exciting way. Charlene Li’s book Open Leadership will help here.
31 Innovation Questions (and Answers) to Kick Off the New Year, Scott Anthony gives us food for thought about innovation and even more – an neat tool for a new presentation idea. Oh, his advice in #26 is good: “Recogniz(e) that destruction is often a critical component of creation.” Thanks to the WSAE Innovation Task Force, we have access to an evidence-based model of innovation for the association community. I’ll be drawing on this as we build a new chapter and volunteer model. Read Eric Lanke’s post for more.
Content Curation: Think Museum Not Warehouse, Andrew Hanelly gives us in associations a great visual and strategy for 2011. You’ll probably want to check out the cool resources at the end of the post for more ideas. One baby step we will test is engaging members in tagging and commenting on resources and then sharing through us to others members. Of course, just pledging to be a curator is a first step and Jeff Cobb does a good job of helping us understand that.
Why I won’t renew with ASAE in 2010, Joe Flowers’ shares his thoughts which prompted a healthy conversation and a great discussion topic for all associations. I pledge to take my own advice (which is deep in the list of comments on the post) to be sure that (1) I share my thoughts directly to my association and (2) I will reach out to all members personally.
Secret Rituals & Traditions That Bring Teams Together, John Warrillow got me thinking about traditions and how they keep the family together. He provides some examples for food for thought and I’m hoping to see what we can get started in my chapter.
Heavy Leadership Reading for a Lighter Year, okay this is actually my post over on SmartBlog Insights which highlights some my best reads from 2010. But it also includes a list of gifts for life-long learners and I’m going out shopping!