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Dusting my brain off from an extended vacation, I read with great interest the article by Robyn Waters in the January issue of Associations Now entitled “The Power of Paradox.” We have been struggling at AIHA over the past four years in particular with this notion of finding new and significant revenue streams to compliment (and maybe ultimately replace) the traditional revenue streams that have been so very successful in the past. This has been made especially difficult in that our membership/profession-base has become more and more niche-oriented over the years.

One point that Ms. Waters made really hit home. She said “Bottom line: Paradoxes abound, and I believe that they should be explored and embraced, not ignored.” Given the demands on association volunteer and staff time and resources, it is sometimes easy to ignore the very paradoxes that Waters describes in her article. How many of us have (or still do) run around developing new products and services without taking a wholesale look at those in our current arsenal? Retooling or repurposing current products into new products is sometimes more lucrative than concentrating solely on new product development. I am not saying that one should be done at the expense of the other, rather, that we should look at both aspects of product and service delivery.

Waters will be speaking at The Great Ideas Conference later this month (January 27-30, Marriott Marco Island, Florida). I am eager to hear her talk more about that which she touches upon in her article. I hope to see you all there.