Friday Top 5

I plan to write a fuller recap post next week, but for now my Top 5 Tweets from #ASAE12:

1. Response to Maddie Grant's observation about the closing general session video:

@maddiegrant video is pos but not honest - what about assoc lobbying against alt energy, #hcr etc? Do we own our neg too? #asae12
— Elizabeth Engel (@ewengel) August 14, 2012

I think this is a huge problem for associations. I have lots of friends in GR, and, as a political scientist by training, I don't think lobbyists are evil. But we have to find a way as a community to own not only the fact that some of community members lobby for funding for alternative energy but also the fact that some of our other community members lobby to prevent the government from raising fuel efficiency standards. We need to own our own shadow.

2. Response to Romeo Arrieta's tweet about retiring Baby Boomers:

@romeoarrieta Gen X hasn't been mentored for leadership roles, isn't being "brought along" = potential HUGE problem #asae12
— Elizabeth Engel (@ewengel) August 14, 2012

I think this is also a huge problem (obviously). Aside from the fact that there are fewer than half as many butts to fill the seats Boomers will eventually leave, plenty of Xers, tired of waiting, are looking to career alternatives (guilty!). I really don't know how we solve this, but in 5-10 years, it's going to be a crisis.

3. Response to Shane Feldman's observation that continuing to add in math is infinity, in life is insanity:

@shfz one of my new mantras is "attention doesn't scale" #asae12
— Elizabeth Engel (@ewengel) August 14, 2012

As we can all share more and more with each other more and more seamlessly and on more and more platforms, we all run the risk of social fatigue. Don't make things worse for your members.

4. At the IGNITE session:

Best use of blank black slide ever in "view from my electric chair" #asae12 #ignite - ppl w disabilities don't want to be invisible
— Elizabeth Engel (@ewengel) August 13, 2012

This struck me particularly hard because of the session I facilitated the previous day, "We Are the 1%: A Frank Conversation About Diversity." CEOs Pat Natale (ASCE), Pat Blake (ASGE), Greg Fine (TMA), and Kevin Lynch (NIB) had an open, no-bs conversation about ALL types of diversity. I think we tend to focus on race/ethnicity and sexual orientation to the exclusion of many other types of diversity, particularly physical disability. The final question I asked my panelists was one Pat Natale had posed on one of our prep calls: "So what?" Two of the panelists specifically addressed the issue of hiring people with visible physical disabilities. What is your organization doing in this area? Anything?

5. At Jeff De Cagna's innovation lounge session on his new book, Associations Unorthodox:

Key assoc problem: half measures, idea fails, blame idea rather than poor execution /via @pinnovation #asae12 [TRUTH!]
— Elizabeth Engel (@ewengel) August 13, 2012

Oh man, how much time have you got? This one is an epidemic in associations. Why don't we execute better, consistently? What's holding us back?