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Technology

Can Associations Lead on Innovation?

Recent reports find that under all that optimism, executives worry about their capacity to deliver new ideas. Associations have an opportunity to help.

Leaders these days seem to have a split mindset. According to survey after survey, executives are feeling positive about their economic fortunes in the coming year. But they’re also despairing about what do to about AI, how it will affect their industry and workforce, and what they’ll need to do to survive long-term.

The latest iteration of this dynamic comes from PwC’s latest Global CEO Survey, released on January 20. The survey found that 60 percent of leaders have a positive short-term outlook for the overall economy, and plan to increase their business’ headcount in the coming year. But they’re anxious about that growth being sustainable; the report notes that “four in ten CEOs (42 percent) say their company will remain viable for less than ten years if it continues on its current path.”

Unsurprisingly, a key source of this anxiety is generative AI. According to the report, companies are getting savvier about using it in their day-to-day work, but are still struggling to develop a strategy around it. What processes can it help simplify? What skills do workers need to know around it? How does it affect their workforce in general? Leaders are only starting to get their arms around all that: “Only a third of CEOs are planning to integrate AI into workforce and skills strategy,” the report says. “This could be a misstep. Realising the potential of GenAI will depend on employees knowing when and how to use AI tools in their work—and understanding the potential pitfalls.”

CEOs reported that only 7 percent of their revenue in the past five years came from distinct new businesses.

That slow movement around AI is paired with a similarly slow movement around innovation in general. CEOs reported that only 7 percent of their revenue in the past five years came “from distinct new businesses.”

This struggle represents an opportunity for associations. Associations are already comfortable supporting their members and industry through advocacy, training, and networking. But a whole range of industries are struggling to navigate a time that requires transformation, according to the PwC report—from pharmaceuticals to finance to media—and associations can play a role in developing the tools for business leaders to kickstart that process, and help members understand the changes.

There’s some evidence that associations have been stepping up in response. Many membership associations have launched training around AI for members, or guidance around its appropriate use. A 2024 survey of trade associations by Potomac Core Consulting found that more such groups are expanding their efforts beyond their traditional sweet spot, advocacy. According to that survey, 68 percent of respondents say they “have big initiatives underway or under consideration [such as] new additions to enhance value proposition, financial plays, merging with or acquiring another trade association.”

But those leaders also conceded that they were laggards around AI—only 7 percent said that they were using it in a robust fashion. To be clear, generative AI isn’t necessarily the solution to what a business needs. But understanding its implications, for better or for worse, is going to be an essential in the coming years. For the sake of their members’ well-being, as well as their own, associations can serve as the trusted broker of information around technology and business transformation that’s clearly needed.

[istock/BlackJack3D]

Mark Athitakis

By Mark Athitakis

Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel. MORE

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