Do you have "it"?

Bob Nardelli delivered impressive operational results during his six-year tenure as CEO of Home Depot, but because he didn't have "it," there was "massive turnover among executives and unhappiness among shareholders," and he was eventually ousted.

Critics attribute the failure of Notre Dame's former football coach Charlie Weis to the fact that he didn't have "it" either.

What is it? The ability to listen.

In an article at Forbes.com, John Ryan writes that every CEO needs to be his or her own CLO (Chief Listening Officer).

Read more here.

Develop and apply your listening skills at DigitalNow, where cutting-edge keynotes and expert workshop presenters will share knowledge and experience to help you position your association for the future.

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

Innovation is smart business

When the McKinsey consulting group asked executives where the government should direct the majority of its stimulus spending, "59 percent of respondents said 'on fostering innovation and potential new industries,' putting it in the top spot, even before potential solutions such as 'on helping workers who have been laid off' or 'on helping existing companies.'"

Companies across the board - from biotechnology to energy to the IPO market - are proving that innovation means not only new solutions to human problems, but it means money, too.

Read the article to see read more about how these companies are continuing to reinvent themselves, and how innovation may save the economy.

DigitalNow is all about helping associations develop and execute innovation. Join us in Orlando as we celebrate 10 years of DigitalNow innovation, knowledge sharing, and community.

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

10 "must read" books on social media

If social media is a growth area for your organization, then this book list is made for you. Recommended by The New York Times, these titles are all available both as hard copy, and as ebooks. (Hint: If you have an iPhone, there is a free Kindle app. Download the app, download the Kindle version of any book, and take your reading list anywhere you take your phone.)

We hope you'll check these titles out, and if you do, please come back to The DigitalNow Blog and let us know what you think.

For more great resources you don't want to miss, be sure to attend DigitalNow 2010 - celebrating 10 years of community, leadership, and innovation for association leaders.

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

Happy Anniversary to you!

It’s 2010 and DigitalNow is 10 years old!

In celebration of this milestone, we want to commemorate all the ways in which the DigitalNow community has helped you grow and thrive. Our collective experience together with the latest and greatest in keynote speakers, technology innovation, and solid education, information, and networking has been the cornerstone of many significant association innvoations.

We want to hear from you about how being part of the DigitalNow community has been part of your journey.

Here to start us off is Thomas Nordby, CAE, Assistant Vice President, Business Operations, National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). Listen as Thomas discusses how DigitalNow has helped him bring concrete, measurable value to his work with NDIA.


We want you to participate in the celebration by sharing your story of success with the community. So express yourself! Write a case study, create a video, or just drop us a note telling us:

• Why you attend (or have attended DigitalNow)


• How you have benefited from your participation


• About valuable relationships you’ve forged as part of the DigitalNow community


• Specific actions you have taken as the result of DigitalNow and what impact they have had on your organization

We will be featuring select submissions through our social media communications, and on site as part of the conference program.
Questions? Contact Julie McKown (jmckown@fusionproductions.com), (585)872-1900 x276.

Stay tuned for additional exciting DigitalNow program announcements.(coming soon!)

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

Is there a CEO gene?

Are the most talented among us the ones who are destined for greatness? If so, where does that talent come from? Despite the fact that we live in the age of genomic research, no specific genes for what we call "talent" have been been identified. According to CNNMoney.com, even if we do find the talent gene, it is unlikely that it would provide the entire explanation for why some people achieve greatness.

What research has found, however, is that the key to greatness is something they call deliberate practice.

"Deliberate practice is a specific and unique kind of activity, neither work nor play. It's characterized by several elements that together form a powerful whole. The greatest performers have consistently combined these elements, sometimes just by luck."

The elements of deliberate practice are worth examining. They include:

1. Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance.


2. Deliberate practice can be repeated a lot.


3. Feedback on results is continuously available.


4. It's highly demanding mentally.


5. It's hard.


6. It demands self-regulation
   • Before the work
   
   
   • During the work
   
   
   • After the work
   
   

Read the article here.

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

Your second brain?

At DigitalNow 2009, we presented Phil Libin, founder of Evernote, a revolutionary new tool that enables you to scan, copy, store, and share a variety of media through a variety of sources and then save it all in one centralized database. It's been said that Evernote is like having a second brain.

Evernote recently announced that it had raised $10 million from Morgenthaler Ventures and previous investors, from whom it had already raised $6.5 million. According to Libin, the money will be used to expand to more platforms and to move into Europe and Japan.

It seems that there are more than a few people who have need for the boost in brain power: Since being introduced in June 2008, Evernote has amassed more than 2 million users. Evernote works on the Web, with Windows and MACs, and can also be used with popular hand held devices. Learn more here.

Don't miss DigitalNow 2010 - where you can be sure to discover how the next big innovations in technology can add value to your organization.

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

What kind of a leader are you, anyway?

Successful leadership isn't just a matter of style. Nor it is dependent solely on environment. In order to lead successfully, it is crucial to know which style to adopt to most effectively address current circumstances.

Paul Sloane lays out the characteristics of two extremes of leadership style: The "command and control" leader and the "innovative" leader.

According to Sloane, "command and control" leaders check and control while "innovative" leaders delegate and trust.

Read the article to see which direction your style tends toward, and to learn more about when your style is most effective.

Join us at DigitalNow to explore and discover how to make the right shifts in your leadership style to meet the challenges of today. DigitalNow is pleased to present keynote speaker Emmanuel Gobillot, author of "Leadershift: Reinventing leadership for the age of mass collaboration."

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com

The future is about context

The semantic web has been heralded as the wave of the future, but what unique value does it bring?

According to Alisa Leonard-Hansen, while it will take some time before the semantic web fulfills its potential, its value is based in its ability to enable a more meaningful and relevant individual web experience by layering that experience"with contextual social data based on my identity.

"Our online identity." writes Leonard-Hansen, "will increasingly be defined by three 'pillars': who I say I am, what I do and say, and who I connect to (and who connects to me).

To clarify, our online identities are comprised primarily of three specific kinds of data:

• Explicit or prescriptive data (i.e. the data that I input about myself: name, age, occupation, etc.);


• Activity or behavioral data (i.e. what I do and say online);


• Relationship data (i.e. my social graph and what my connections say about me).

The ultimate benefit? "Greater access to information through discovery, communication and collaboration."

Read the article at ReadWriteWeb.com

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Watch videos and download session content from DigitalNow 2009 at http://www.digitalnowlive.com


Follow DigitalNow on Twitter.

Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com