Leadership

Social Media Roundup: Don’t Lead With Arrogance

Why organizations can hurt themselves by treating others poorly. Also: The similarities between associations and indie bookstores.

Everything’s going great, but there’s just one problem: You’ve let it get to your head.

Your organization may be a star, but that’s no reason to let arrogance get in the way. That and more in today’s Social Media Roundup:

Don’t Be Too Proud

Let’s face it. When we’re great at what we do (and know it), we can get a little arrogant when we’re the 800-pound gorilla and may not treat people the way we should. It works that way on an organizational level, too, Innosight’s Scott D. Anthony explains. “It can blind a company to the fact that the things that made it a great company will not make it a great company,” Anthony writes on the Harvard Business Review blog. “Being a giant in today’s industry doesn’t guarantee even short-term success as industries collide and hungry startups from around the globe keep developing innovative ways to siphon profits from even the most seemingly staid of industries.” How do you avoid this sort of organizational arrogance?

Associations: Like Indie Bookstores

Writing on the Avectra blog, Deirdre Reid makes an interesting parallel between independent bookstores and the services that associations provide—noting that despite market challenges like Amazon, some bookstores continue to survive. Why is that? “Customers pay a higher price for a commodity because they’re buying more than a book; they’re buying the whole experience—recognition when they walk through the door, conversations with neighbors, staff recommendations, exposure to new authors and products, and the good self-satisfied feeling they get from supporting a community institution,” she explains. Does this sound a little like your association? If so, good work.

See anything cool today? Let us know in the comments.

(Jupiterimages/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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