Advancing the future: associations have an edge.

ASAE President R. William Taylor, CAE, sees associations as the catalysts of change.

In a recent interview with ASAE President R. William Taylor, CAE, on the topic of the future of the association management profession, I was reminded that to generalize about associations can be a mistake. More than once, Taylor referred to the fact that no one answer would suffice because circumstances are different for different kinds of associations.

"So often people try to fit all associations into the same mold," Taylor observes, "but it just can't be done, because while we each have general challenges - like technology, changes in generational values, internationalization, and mergers - we also have very specific challenges. And quite often these specific challenges are of a more life-and-death nature to the industry or profession than are the general ones."

Still, associations have a collective identity today. Increasingly people are turning to associations on legislative issues, on international issues, and as a vital marketplace, to mention just a few examples.

Achieving this level of importance is good for association executives, Taylor continues, because as associations become more relevant in more and different ways, "then the job of association executive becomes more important. When associations were considered less vital, and not always taken seriously, then the role of the association executive was not nearly so respected."

Along with their growing recognition, associations face the challenge of fostering a positive public image. It's a significant challenge in part because, as we know all too well, headline news is basically synonymous with bad news. In such an environment, creating and maintaining a respected image in the public's eye takes concerted effort on an ongoing basis.

What does ASAE's president prescribe for coping in the fluid and at times volatile environment in which association executives operate? For starters, Taylor references association management consultant Glenn Tecker's study on why good association executives get fired: "The CEO's job requires the ultimate in interpersonal skills because the CEO has to deal with so many different publics in so many different ways. CEOs don't normally get fired because they don't know how to manage budgets or hold good meetings or lobby effectively. They get fired basically because of the lack of exceptional interpersonal skills."

Assuming those interpersonal skills are well-honed, then how do chief executive officers manage? "I think it's simply recognition that everything's going to change," says Taylor. "It's a mind-set to be prepared to reexamine anything. The old expression, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,' doesn't hold anymore. So break it. You have to break it and fix it; otherwise it's going to be outmoded."

Taylor loves these challenges of change. In this interview, find out why he thinks association executives have an edge on the future.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: A leader has been described as someone who invents the future. How can associations invent the future?

Taylor: Associations do invent the future. As CEOs look to become better association managers, we're prone to meet with our peers and talk with them about what they're doing, what they're hearing, what their thoughts are. Then based on a lot of input from many sources, we start to say, for my organization, this is how I need to work with my leaders to invent the future.

The association executive who cuts himself off from his peers really cuts himself off from important thought processes. Too often the new association CEO looks only to the industry to gather information, but his new task is not so much to determine what the industry should do, but rather how the association is capable of helping or causing the industry to do it.

You have to work with others to understand their concerns, how their concerns mesh with yours, what the industry needs, how it's moving to meet those needs, how the association can be the catalyst.

My challenge is not so much understanding what association executives need, but rather determining how ASAE can be instrumental in meeting those needs. It's easier to understand the needs than it is to determine how to service them.

It's also a matter of deciding how many resources to allocate to a specific problem. How much can you afford before you've over allocated and dried up the opportunity to respond to other needs? And does the association even have the wherewithal to get it done? In some instances you feel like you're pushing a noodle uphill because you don't have the resources to get from here to there.

So, again, it's not just what the industry needs, it's the role the association is capable of playing to meet that need. And there are simply some needs the association executive doesn't know how to fulfill. For those things, you continue to look for solutions and for the right person and the right opportunity to come along. If you work at it long enough, you'll find an approach that allows you to devote resources and effort to get it done.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: And how do you make the leap from identifying problems to identifying solutions?

Taylor: At most associations it's a role the CEO should not play alone. Identifying solutions should be done through task forces, committees, board discussions, and so forth. The worst thing you can do is develop solutions based on an inadequate understanding of the problem - or of the impact of the proposed solution on various constituencies. Even if you think you know the solution in advance, you still need to work through committees to make sure that things you haven't thought of come to light.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Doesn't this again point to the paradox unique to association CEOs: needing to be invisible - behind the scenes - and yet needing to lead?

Taylor: Even though he or she definitely should recommend specific courses of action, I think the CEO is always going to be behind the scenes in areas where the board needs to make the decision, where it needs to be a collective decision process. Where the association CEO is emerging from behind the scenes is as the spokesperson for the profession or industry - not only on Capitol Hill but in public and media relations as well. In the board decision-making process, the association executive can only go so far. He or she can't usurp the role of the board, but he or she certainly can be out front when it comes to speaking on behalf of the organization.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Will association executives be on the firing line more - that is, be more visible - as the profession gains stature?

Taylor: There's no one answer to that question. In trade associations, the answer is usually yes. Normally the competitive companies comprising the trade association prefer the association CEO as the neutral spokesperson. In professional societies and philanthropic organizations, CEOs are out front more than ever before. But they still need to stay a little more behind the scenes, to be careful not to rob their elected leaders of the one payment they get for all their efforts: the visibility and professional prestige. Beyond experiencing the satisfaction of leading the organization, volunteers have to receive recognition.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Do association executives need to become more comfortable as risk takers? Do you consider yourself a risk taker?

Taylor: I do, but it's important that I not come across as an excessive risk taker to my board, which like all boards, tends to be conservative. Even though individually board members might be risk takers, collectively they aren't. So, though I think effective CEOs are normally very entrepreneurial, I wouldn't recommend overplaying this role with your board.

The reality is, we constantly take risks; otherwise nothing will get done. ASAE's new Strategic Leadership Forum was a risk. So was the new ASAE/Nasdaq Association Technology Conference. But after careful staff evaluation, we presented these risks to the board as reasonable options - not without risks, certainly, but we did not dwell on the magnitude of the risks. I think you have to be a risk taker, but do so without creating alarm. Otherwise nothing will happen because of the conservatism of boards when dealing in areas where they aren't fully knowledgeable.

As CEOs, we often do a high-wire walk, but we don't act like it is. Like Willie Mays playing center field: Try to make the catches look easy because you don't want people to worry that the association's taking too many chances.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: Part of how associations are managed has to do with their nonprofit status. Do you think associations will eventually see the elimination of the nonprofit tax classification?

Taylor: Each year we see more and more taxes introduced that have an impact on associations and other nonprofits. So many of these impact spendable income of associations and threaten to diminish their effectiveness. More and more association executives are questioning whether they would not be better off financially if they gave up nonprofit status, since more of us would pay small taxes on our modest bottom lines. When the dam breaks and a few major associations give up their exemptions, we are likely to see a strong move in that direction.

Right now, though, it's not really clear how to give up your nonprofit status. For example, if you gave it up today, would you have to turn all of your reserves over to another nonprofit organization? I think Congress will probably want to encourage some nonprofit organizations to become tax-paying, profit-making entities because there's discomfort that certain nonprofit organizations should be paying more taxes. And the advantage of being a nonprofit is disappearing so fast that it's not as important as previously.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: What else can ASAE be doing to improve the public image of the profession?

Taylor: For seven years ASAE has diligently pursued its Associations Advance America program. Still, these efforts have only created small ripples in an ocean of information. There aren't enough dollars for ASAE to buy the media space to get the job done, and so far we have too few associations that have decided to work with us on the Associations Advance America initiative. But if associations affiliated with ASAE - who have an outreach to 200 million members - were to work with ASAE through their newsletters and magazines, we would have the potential to reach virtually everyone with information on how associations advance America.

The story has to be told through mediums that people are accustomed to, but ASAE doesn't have the money to buy the television time or newspaper space. And it's not a story that's going to be voluntarily told by the media, because ours is mostly good news, and it's bad news that makes headlines. We have to have a lot of associations roll up their sleeves and say that it's critical to us to tell the story of associations and why they're important.

ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: And how will ASAE get this message across to future generations just entering the workforce?

Taylor: It's difficult because there's no curriculum to refer them to, no specific training and background. And when you're young, you need to have a sufficiently broad background that permits you to go in several directions.

I think we just have to create the positive impression that associations advance America. If the American public appreciates associations, people will want to go into the field. If the perception is that we create legislative gridlock and avoid paying taxes that we should, then people won't want to go into the field.

Everybody understands and respects the association that serves their own interests. But they don't appreciate associations in a broader context because of the negatives they see or hear in headline news: that associations are thwarting the Congress of the United States, or that they're not paying taxes, or that someone has absconded with funds from a nonprofit that had insufficient oversight. We need to create a positive and accurate image that causes people to recognize down deep that these are the exceptions, that associations are extremely valuable to America.

Everyone wants to be in a respected profession. And people will have to understand the good that associations are doing overall before we'll be a fully respected profession.

Ann I. Mahoney, CAE, is editor of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT.