Becoming Essential printing for SHRM conference.

Do you want to survive, or do you want to thrive? Leading your association into the future means understanding that the rules have changed.

In his 25+ years of working as a partner to both associations and some of the biggest, most forward-thinking for-profit companies, author James E. Meyers has seen all sides of the strategic planning spectrum: organizations that face the future by hiding in the corner, hoping it'll all go away, and those that careen headfirst into a fail-fast approach. For many associations, success comes in the gray area in between.

To be truly future-focused, you need your members to think about you as providing a service they need, one that they are unwilling to do without.

How do you do that? You make your association essential to your members' lives--and that means positioning yourself differently than you ever have.