Growing a Community is Never Passive
What started as the magic ingredient needed to save their community became a logistical nightmare. Through a mutual connection, the head of a large community of e-commerce sellers invited me to lunch. The purpose of the meeting was to see if we could help them buck their negative member retention rates. The organization had steadily […]
The Importance of Metrics and Meetings in Your Organization
I looked at my watch impatiently and saw it was 12:23 pm. This meeting was supposed to finish at noon. We were already 23 minutes overtime because one conversation was running endlessly long. What should’ve been a simple discussion followed by a decision turned into people giving their opinions without any data to back it […]
Should Organizations Have Open Enrollment or Closed Enrollment?
I can’t believe they told me I couldn’t join… which, of course, made me want to join even more. For the past three months, I’ve been on a mission to find the perfect Health Club for my family and me. However, every Health Club has had a different set of rules and criteria when it […]
Why Core Values Matter
Akia’s palms were sweaty, and her nerves were out of control! She felt like whatever decision she made at this moment would have a major impact on the company for the next several months. But what should she do? Her manager, Eric, was on vacation, and no one ever trained her on what to do […]
5 Ways To Recover When Your Boss Ruins Your Perfect Plan
Hmm… I’m thinking of something that will make this day POP. But what would that be? Do I take the easy road and create a fun Casino theme? Do I look into creating a ’70s disco theme and have our team disco their way through the day? Or Do I create a 007 (James Bond) […]
How Much Is Too Much Programming?
A fresh cup of hot tea is brewing away on this lovely spring morning next to my desk as I open up my email. Loading, loading, and still loading my inbox finally shows over a dozen emails from different companies inviting me to events they have coming up. The first email is from Airbnb saying […]
The Wheel Of Life
It was hard not to get emotional as I looked at the ten pieces of paper in front of me that represented the past ten years of my life. One year I was super depressed; another year, my health was way out of whack, then I noticed one year I was deeply in love, but […]
Dedicated Roles For Community Programming and Community Growth
It felt so demoralizing to see our executive board go from 15 members at the start of the year to only three by the end. The issue, however, wasn’t that we had too few people; it was that we had too many people. Back when I was in college, I joined an organization led by […]
What’s An Engagement Pyramid?
Marcus sat in the front row of a nearly empty 500 person auditorium with his head cupped between his hands. He was in disbelief that almost no one showed up after spending countless hours promoting his event. “How is that possible?!?” He silently screamed to himself. He remembered standing outside the Student Union building handing […]
The Perfect Welcome Gift
Excitement came over me as I sped up the highway back in 2012. With my favorite music blasting through the speaker and my parents jamming in the car behind me, I was off to college as a new freshman. We only had 30 minutes to go, so I queued up some songs I knew would […]