Strategy

I’ve been conducting a process review recently. As always, it’s fascinating how every conversation follows the same pattern: Ask someone how the organisation operates, and they’ll tell you exactly what’s wrong - with everyone else’s area. Marketing takes too long to sign off. Finance slows everything down. IT doesn’t understand the business. HR gets in the way. Leadership lacks focus. But when we get to their function, their processes, their team, and their role, the tone shi

Membership and professional associations are rarely short of activity. Reports are published, events delivered, campaigns launched, and committees convened. Each quarter brings a new flurry of outputs that fill board papers and populate dashboards. Yet for all this activity, genuine impact, the kind that changes behaviour, shifts policy, or strengthens an industry, remains notoriously hard to prove.

WWE’s pricing surge exposes how fragile loyalty becomes when perceived value fails to keep up with cost. The product itself isn’t poor (storytelling and in-ring quality have arguably improved) but the experience hasn’t doubled in quality, even if ticket prices have

The Netflix analogy has become a favourite in the membership sector. Leaders talk about “being more like Netflix” or “moving away from a Blockbuster model.” It sounds compelling, modern, inevitable. Yet when asked what this looks like in practice, the answers can become vague. Streaming-era language without streaming-era systems does not deliver streaming-era results. To turn the Netflix aspiration into a real member experience, we need to understand what the streaming model

This sector doesn’t need more sponsors. It needs collaborators. The kind who bring ideas, challenge assumptions, and deliver capability members can feel. I stand ready to do that work, and many, many others do too. The question is whether associations are ready to meet us there.

Membership organisations are constantly juggling the need to listen to their communities while also innovating to stay relevant. Every new benefit, pricing model, or service tweak comes with a familiar question: how will members react? Traditionally, the answer has been found through surveys, focus groups, or pilots, all of which are valuable, but can also be slow, resource-intensive, and vulnerable to “respondent fatigue.” Enter a new and increasingly powerful tool: syntheti

Professional advice isn’t a luxury. It’s the infrastructure of competence. Whether you’re improving strategy, upgrading systems, refining governance, or rethinking engagement, the quality of your advice determines the quality of your organisation. Cutting corners here is the definition of false economy.

Who could argue with fairness? Who wants to be accused of gatekeeping in a world obsessed with openness, inclusion, and accessibility? But the reality is that for membership organisations, this way of thinking can be fatal. When everyone has access, the very purpose of membership disappears.

Facilitation is not about avoiding discomfort. It is about staying steady in the discomfort so that others can do their work. Sometimes that means holding silence. Sometimes it means naming patterns. And sometimes, it means carrying on with composure even when your insides are burning.

This summer, when MindsEye, the studio’s first release, finally arrived, it crashed spectacularly. Players called it broken, reviewers called it unplayable, and within weeks hundreds of staff were gone. What followed wasn’t just a failed launch but a public unravelling of leadership itself.

Eight national rugby unions have threatened to ban players who join the proposed R360 League from representing their countries. In short: play our game, or don’t play at all. Their decision says a lot about power, fear, and protectionism, and not just in sport. It’s a mirror many membership organisations would do well to look into. Because whether you’re a rugby union or a membership body the instinct to control rather than evolve is a sure sign that your model is wobbling.

In over two decades of working with membership bodies, I’ve seen Board members glaze over at the mention of governance reform, look blank at data strategy, and politely nod through conversations about engagement metrics. Yet mention a logo redesign and suddenly the entire boardroom is animated. Everyone has an opinion, everyone wants to be heard, and the whole process takes on a significance out of all proportion to its real impact. Why?

If you’ve ever sat on an association committee, you’ll know the rhythm: a packed agenda, familiar faces, and the creeping sense of déjà vu. Decisions inch forward, minutes pile up, and enthusiasm quietly ebbs away. Committees have long been the workhorse of association life: part governance, part member engagement, part legacy; but maybe, just maybe, they’ve had their day.

Many trade association boards find themselves in a similar pattern: engaged, but in the wrong place. The energy they invest in measurement is admirable, but if it comes at the expense of foresight, the organisation is left exposed.

A calculator doesn’t decide which sums I should do; a keyboard doesn’t dictate what I should write; and AI is no different. Its real value is in how it fits into your work, your needs, your priorities.

The myth of the superhuman consultant is tempting because it promises certainty in an uncertain world. But the real value of consultancy comes when we reject that myth and embrace something much more powerful: humanity, with discipline.

Opening a business bank account should be straightforward, yet for many membership bodies, trade associations, charities, clubs, and professional societies it has become anything but. Over the past two years, an increasing number of organisations have reported long delays, outright refusals, or sudden account closures. For bodies whose very survival depends on secure banking facilities, this is more than an inconvenience. It threatens credibility, financial stability, and mem

Talk of new models isn't new. Before COVID-19, the sector buzzed with talk of subscriptions, micro-payments, and modular benefits. Then came the pandemic, which forced experimentation but also prompted many to retreat to safe ground once events resumed. The result is paralysis. Organisations know they need change but fear the perceived risks. Adjusting the business model means rethinking the very systems that underpin income. It feels dangerous, even existential. Yet risk

Associations and professional bodies increasingly face the same dynamics. Membership today is borderless, always on, and profoundly portable. For associations and professional bodies, the challenge is to build systems and cultures that reflect this reality, so that no matter where your members are, they feel their community is right there with them.

Membership bodies matter. They represent professions, influence policy, regulate standards, and serve communities. They deserve professional leadership, not amateur compromise. The subconscious assumption that “I’ve done it, so I can run it” might feel comfortable, but it is a false economy which boards and appointments committees must resist. Credibility with members is important, but without leadership capability, it crumbles quickly.