Resources Roundup: Leadership Skills

Books and Research

Learn about larger trends affecting association leadership and governance

ASAE ForesightWorks  (opens in a new tab)

ASAE’s future-focused environmental-scanning research initiative identifies 50 drivers of change important to associations. Each is described in an action brief that examines its implications and offers ideas for steps associations can take to respond to the trend. The drivers most pertinent to leadership include:

A World Reshaped by COVID. This 2021 action brief provides insights and strategies for navigating the uncertainty and pandemic-related shifts that will last through the early 2020s.

Volunteering. Cultural, demographic, and technological changes are altering volunteer expectations and experiences. This action brief looks at how associations and nonprofits are experimenting with more flexible roles and structures to support collaboration and contribution.

Benchmarking in Association Management, Policies and Procedures, Vol. 2 (2018)  (opens in a new tab)

Compare your association’s practices against others of similar size and type. This resource focuses on key considerations in five functional areas of association management, including governance. The data, collected from responses to the ASAE Research Foundation’s Benchmarking in Association Management surveys, gives you a firsthand look at what other organizations are doing in those areas.

Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations, 10th Anniversary Edition (2021)  (opens in a new tab)

By Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers, CAE

An ASAE bestseller updated for a pandemic-altered world, this new edition serves as a guidebook for association staff and volunteers leading and making decisions for their organizations in a dramatically changed environment. Practical tools like worksheets, checklists, and case studies help you kick off thought-provoking discussions.

Recruit the Right Board: Proven Processes for Selecting Critical Competencies (2019)  (opens in a new tab)

By Mark Engle, FASAE, CAE, and William Brown

This book provides CEOs with a framework for recruitment, nomination, and selection processes to build a board with the right mix of skills, knowledge, and other characteristics to perform optimally.