|
On the late Jack Valenti,
former exec at the Motion Picture Association of
America, by a former CEO of Columbia Pictures:
“We were not an easy group to lead and yet Jack
managed to do so brilliantly for some 30 years.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was holding onto
his job even as the industry went through so many
enormous tectonic shifts… Jack kept his cool and his
standing and, like so many successful leaders,
managed to maintain the broad support of the various
constituencies whose views mattered” (WSJ 5/7).
ANECDOTE:
Valenti once arranged for a high profile lunch with
representatives of professional baseball when the
commissioner’s job was open. Motion picture
executives, fearing he would leave, sweetened his
compensation package. He was never in consideration
for the MLB commissioner’s job.
Two “association vs. association” items in the news:
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
has petitioned the FTC claiming that the National
Dairy Council’s weight loss claims (e.g. “Milk
your diet. Lose weight.”) were misleading (NY
Times 5/11). The ads are being withdrawn.
COMMENT: PR
efforts have to be defensible, not just clever.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences,
based in LA, bestows the prime time Emmy awards; the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences,
based in NYC, is responsible for Emmys in news,
sports, daytime TV and local broadcasts (NY Times
3/22). The issue: a battle over which
organization has responsibility for awarding Emmys
in the growing field of online and cell phone
videos?
SPLIT: The
two separate organizations are the result of a
dispute in 1977 over voting rights for the awards.
New book on the market: “17 Essential Qualities of a
Team Player” by John Maxwell.
COMMENT: I
assume that one of the qualities would be the
ability to remember and practice the other 16
qualities.
The nation’s minority population has reached 100
million, with Hispanics the largest group at over 44
million (USA
Today 5/17).
Hispanics represented half of the nation’s
population growth in the last year, and they are
“transforming classrooms, workplaces and entire
communities.”
ACTION:
The Association Forum of Chicagoland has
initiated a 5-year, $1 million minority outreach
initiative
“…the culprit is online social networks; they are
moving fast, already having seized the attention of
the next generation of members.
“Through these communities, professionals have
access to a world of individuals just like
themselves, with the capability to display and
search personal or business profiles, along with
pictures and video. The ability to share knowledge,
form and join common interest groups, generate
discussion, and respond to employment opportunities
are just a few of the capabilities inherent in these
types of networks.”
“However, online
social networks aren’t business as usual. Users
expect the freedom to communicate and post
information without censorship. For a true social
network to take hold and be successful, the
traditional method associations use to control
information published to members must be modified to
allow peer monitoring of network members. This is no
small change in traditional association thinking.”
“Online Social
Networks: Revolutionizing How People ‘Associate’” by
Jim Kelly (April ASAE Technology Section
Newsletter).
Associations aren’t the only ones
caught in a time-pressed society.
"We're really, really busy," said a
12-year- old in a Hasbro focus group. To meet
saturated schedules, Hasbro is launching new express
versions of Monopoly, Scrabble and Sorry, designed
to be played in 20 minutes or less (ABC News 5/16).
Express Monopoly has a
radical new approach: there's no cash or cards. The
properties are listed on 12 dice.
RESPOND:
Associations need to make the same kind of radical
changes if they are to fit the time-pressed nature
of members and volunteers.
Think multi-tasking is
the answer to time pressures? Recent research
indicates there are limits (NY Times 3/25).
“Disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from
the standpoint of our ability to process
information,” says a University of Michigan
researcher. Adds a neuroscientist from Vanderbilt
University: “The human brain is a cognitive
powerhouse…but a core limitation is an inability to
concentrate on two things at once.”
COMMENT:
You need undivided attention in meetings. I
recommend turning all unrelated technology to the
off position.
Shareholder
activism may be having unintended consequences on
corporate boards (NY Times 5/26). “Activism,
and the corporate governance changes it has brought
about have caused a shift in the board’s role from
guiding strategy and advising management to ensuring
compliance and performing due diligence.”
BE
CAREFUL:
It’s a short trip from due diligence to
micromanagement.
An
emerging, limited but real threat to association
membership: private equity ownership. So far this
year, 217 publicly traded companies have been bought
out by private equity firms (USA
Today 5/17).
“Private owners are tough: they want profits, not
excuses” (WSJ 5/17).
COMMENT:
These no-nonsense owners have little, if any,
knowledge of their trade associations and will
heavily scrutinize the R.O.I. on their dues and
those of employees’ professional societies.
|
