Acronym

I almost hesitate to base my first post on an education event delivered by ASAE & The Center, but the opportunity is too good to pass up. My pledge to readers is to write about ideas and experiences that I think are interesting, no matter the source or timing.

With that disclaimer, I want to talk about The Invitational Forum on Leadership & Management, held in lovely Halifax, Nova Scotia last week. The annual forum features several world-class speakers and thought leaders in an intimate setting of less than 200 attendees. The intimacy lends itself to nice interaction between leaders and participants—and several of the leaders stayed for other sessions.

I’ll provide a synopsis of each session in an upcoming Associations Now magazine article (probably the September issue), but for my first post to this blog, I’ll give you some short fragments that, even taken out of context, stimulate my brain, and, I hope, yours, too.

On being profitable: “It’s not about making money. Money is fungible. It’s about ideas, diligence, and hard work. It’s about pleasing a customer.” Peter Georgescu, chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam.

On spreading your message: “If it’s not on the 5 o’clock news, it didn’t happen.” —Carol Bellamy, longtime executive director of UNICEF.

On management: “When you reject an idea, don’t do it harshly. Do it inclusively so that they feel encouraged to continue making a contribution.” Victoria Brown, noted facilitator using improv techniques.

On strategic motivation: “Ask yourself: ‘How can we double our effectiveness in the next year?’” Frances Hesselbein, longtime CEO of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., currently chairman of the board of the Leader to Leader Institute.

On management: “When one of your staff comes to you with an idea that they are really excited about, take it. Don’t offer any ideas or suggestions to improve it… If you do, you’ll improve the idea by five percent, but you’ll lose 50 percent of their commitment.” Marshall Goldsmith, extraordinarily successful executive coach.