If you’ve ever heard me speak, I often talk about the three types of relationships we must develop in an effort to both enhance the quality and the diversity in our portfolio of relationships: personal, functional and strategic.

• Personal relationships are often the easiest because they’re discretionary yet seldom relevant to our professional lives.  These are poker and golf buddies, girlfriends, PTA or soccer parents.
• Functional relationships are the ones we work with because we have to; let’s be honest, some of our clients and colleagues.  They may not be discretionary as we often don’t or can’t pick who we work with, but they’re still safe because of the context of the relationship.  They’re focused on efficiency and effectiveness; in essence, our ability to get things done.
• Most people get the first two and they have plenty of the first two.  It’s the last one they miss out on, which are our strategic relationships.  Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know about your business, but mine tends to slow down twice a year: mid year, around the 4th of July holiday and right about now – as most of the business winds down for the Christmas holidays.  So, like many people I take some time off to spend with my family.  Many call that work-life balance; I just need that intentional time to really disengage from work and it helps me think about, focus on, prioritize, pay attention to all these other things that are equally important in my life.

A few years ago, I also blocked off time on the calendar for this type of forced introspection.  I clear off my desk, throw out all of those gilt-written to-do lists that I didn’t get to, throw out boxes of recycled newspapers and magazines, and really try to clean up and clear out my work area.  I review my notes throughout the year, client meetings, phone conversations, opportunities won and lost.  Relationships I’ve touched and those who impacted me more than a cordial interaction.  Think of this as spring cleaning for your brain and I’d submit it’s an essential part of your personal and professional growth – if you don’t ever clean anything out, how will you make room for more ideas, more key initiatives, and just as important, more strategic relationships.

So, use some time during this holiday season to really think about your strategic relationships this past year.  Where did you invest time and effort?  Whom did you neglect?  Where do you need to prioritize your strategic relationship investments in 2012?  Make an intentional list of the type of relationship-builder you want to become vs. just that you want to achieve and really work on those attributes, those relationships, those friendship that will help you grow in the New Year.

After all, holidays are for more than just gift giving.  It’s a great time for gift receiving – in forms of introspection that will help you grow, personally and professionally.  Talk about a gift that keeps on giving.

Happy Holidays,
David

p.s.

If you haven’t yet, check out these channels to subscribe to various insights from our team in 2012…

I’m working with a client who is the CEO of a 2,000+ employee organization on helping him, his senior leadership team and his board become more customer / member-centric (central theme of the newly released Return on Impact book).  They’re in the hospitality industry and as I travel with this CEO and observe his behavior, it’s clear one of the fundamental assets which has made him very successful over the years. Read the rest of this entry »

When I hear someone say they’re too busy, you know what that means?  That it’s not important enough.  Think about it – we make time for things that are important.  Most people I know are taking off some time during the upcoming holidays to appreciate their time with loved ones.  We make time to return calls to some people but not others.  We make time to meet with some people but not others.  We make time to respond to emails by some people not others.  Most of our day is about choices.  I would submit, it’s also about the relationships we choose to invest in. Read the rest of this entry »

“Hi David – It’s good to hear from you and of the completion of your latest book.  After checking with my bosses I’m going to have to decline your request.  They don’t want me, or anyone else in the firm, endorsing others products including books. Best wishes on the release.”

That’s an email that you don’t expect to receive.  As many of you know, I’ve been working on the release of my 4th commercial book, Return on Impact – Leadership Strategies for the Age of Connected Relationships (ASAE, 2012).  As it’s customary, I’ve reached out to a dozen or so current and past clients with key insights about the book and have asked them for endorsements / testimonials of our work together.  Here are just two kind ones: Read the rest of this entry »

ASAE is hosting its Annual Tech Conference, December 6-8, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, other technology staff, and marketing and membership professionals will learn how to leverage mobile and digital content for their organizations.

Here are some of the 50+ topics on the agenda: how to create a profitable mobile application, how to handle challenges with an online community, how to develop a user’s experience using a cloud strategy, and how to use Google Analytics.  The three-day technology conference starts with a keynote from AAIM’s CEO John Mancini. He will discuss the social (So), local (Lo) and mobile (Mo) and the implications of “SoLoMo” as well as tactics CIOs should adopt to be “business value producers.”

On Wednesday, December 7, I’ll do a luncheon keynote on the quantifiable business impact of social.  I also hope to challenge the attendees to rethink their strategic use of social tools and context in order to achieve social market leadership. I’m really excited about my forthcoming book published by ASAE’s Association Management Press, Return on IMPACT: Leadership Strategies for the Age of Connected Relationships.

Closing General Session speaker will be David Weinberger, senior researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for the Internet and Society, who will address the future vision of knowledge in a connected world and how government, business, science and education are learning to utilize network knowledge to make smarter decisions.

To register or find out more information, please visit ASAE’s Annual Technology Conference and Expo website.

By the way, ASAE is a membership organization of more than 22,000 association executives and industry partners representing more than 11,000 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in nearly 50 countries around the world. With support of the ASAE Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession, and provides resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. For more information about ASAE, visit www.asaecenter.org.