What do you know?

We live in a knowledge-based economy and work in a knowledge-fueled profession. As Peter Drucker noted--as far back as 1993--"The basic economic resource is no longer capital, nor natural resources, nor labor. It is and will be knowledge."

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Many have talked about the necessity for associations to move beyond collecting data and providing information to developing knowledge and even cultivating wisdom. This is a pretty profound leap. While information is merely data presented in an understandable context, knowledge is about the ability to do something with it. After all, having information about membership growth doesn't mean that you will be able to grow your association. With this in mind, ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership are reimagining the way we structure our knowledge assets and create new knowledge for the profession.

Knowledge is built in a variety of ways, including hands-on learning, sharing models of good practice, and exploring the thinking of experts. Our goal is to provide our members with outlets for all of this knowledge built around the topics they care about most as they build strong organizations.

Creating a center for knowledge

As a first step, we launched the new Association Knowledge Center. Bringing together the rich resources of ASAE's Information and CEO Central and its library with the extensive online resources and libraries of The Center for Association Leadership, all of our knowledge staff and resources can now be found at The Center, which is located in The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. Drop by when you're in town or contact the Association Knowledge Center by phone at 202-326-9559 or e-mail [e-mail]. The knowledge staff can help you make the best use of the resources available.

The new Association Knowledge Center boasts more than 10,000 resources on association management, general business management, and career topics, much of which will be made available online during the next several months. In addition, Knowledge Center staff will have access to a variety of new databases and a newly developed network of experts, making this your one-stop shop for virtually any question or problem association professionals face at work.

Building additional knowledge assets

To complement the Knowledge Center's activities, we're strengthening our capacity to identify best practices and develop new knowledge for the profession. Here are a few examples of what's to come:

* The content in The Journal of Association Leadership, the only peer-reviewed journal for the association management profession, will be linked more closely with the future-focused research activities formerly housed in the ASAE Foundation, resulting in more research-based articles aimed at surfacing new ideas and approaches. Beginning in August, ASAE member CEOs will receive the journal as an added benefit of membership.

* The Center Visionaries program, an initiative that links though leaders from other sectors with the association community, will be re-energized with the selection of two new Center Visionaries.

* New tools and resources are also in the works, including the Meetings and Conventions Community-Building Card Deck, which will be unveiled at the May 26 Springtime 2005 exposition at the Washington Convention Center.

Moving resources online

ASAE members will also benefit from a new online home for both ASAE and The Center that will put literally thousands of resources at their fingertips by the fall of 2005. The site will feature enhanced navigation and search capabilities, better organization of content, greater personalization, and a substantial online Knowledge Center.

Add to these activities many other initiatives that are taking place throughout ASAE and The Center--including the creation of new learning communities, the launch of a new publications strategy, the reimagining and recommitment to the work of the professional-interest sections, the redesign of many educational programs, and the pursuit of an aggressive research agenda--and an environment begins to take shape that will provide ASAE members with the knowledge they need to be successful in the 21st century.

Scott Steen 

Chief Knowledge Officer, ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership

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