We Cannot Flee the Future: Preparing for the 2030s Today [Part V]

AUTHOR’S ATTESTATION: This article was written entirely by Jeff De Cagna AIMP DAIG FRSA FASAE FNI.Dir, a human author, without using generative AI. 

As of this column’s publication date (10/13/26), there are 1176 days until Tuesday 1/1/30, the first day of the next decade.

Eighty Days Until 2027

Also, as of today, Tuesday 10/13/26, there are only 80 days left before 2027 begins. With every milestone date between now and the beginning of next year, association decision-makers and contributors must start doing everything possible to prepare their organizations for this decade’s final 36 months and the 2030s beyond. My recommendations to guide this crucial work remain the same as they were when this article series began earlier this year: focus on building agency, redirecting attention, enabling adaptation, and engaging in anticipation to leave the organizations for which they are responsible better than how they found them. In this article, I will add one more vital recommendation to this list.

Expanding the Surface Area of Attraction

Before the 2020s endgame begins in earnest next year, association decision-makers must devote their attention to thinking through the range of relationships they are willing and able to create with the emerging stakeholders who are entering the fields their organizations serve. The specific challenge that requires serious reflection is what actionable choices they should make to expand the surface area of stakeholder attraction to their associations beyond the limitations of membership.

In the years ahead, financial, governance, and legal necessities will continue to dictate that membership remains an available option on offer for most associations. But as the dynamic conditions of a BANI world further erode the significance of the traditional membership value proposition, association decision-makers will need to adapt their approach. The societal shifts that are profoundly reshaping the context within which they operate demand that associations center their next business models on the creation and delivery of distinctive stakeholder value that is accessible without a membership requirement.

To expand their organizations’ surface area of attraction, association decision-makers must do a deep dive into their current and future stakeholders’ associative intent, i.e., the underlying intrinsic motivation for entering into a relationship with an entity such as an association and the central principles that must define mutual benefit within that relationship. The one-size-fits-all membership offer is built on a general understanding of an average member’s associative intent: bundled access to a package of benefits in exchange for an annual dues payment and subsequent discounted payments to access other offers with nearly all costs incurred by an employer. Our community’s decision-makers will need to think and act beyond this orthodox point of view on associative intent before the 2030s begin.

Developing a more holistic perspective on associative intent begins with the clear-eyed recognition that potential association stakeholders are already familiar with and seeking out the specific forms of value they need to fulfill their unique purposes. Entering into a mutually-beneficial relationship to secure that value will require empathic understanding and genuine trust. It also may require associations to accept stakeholder preferences and requirements that do not fit within conventional membership boundaries.

Acting on a richer understanding of associative intent will further challenge decision-makers to adjust their thinking about how strategy and business model design can expand the surface area of attraction. For nearly 25 years, I have advocated for our community to move toward strategy as a process of learning and away from strategy as an exercise in planning. To advance further in this critical work and better prepare their organizations for the 2030s, I now want to urge associations to adopt strategy as capacity building as a future-adaptive practice that can bring increased breadth, depth, and impact to strategy as learning.

At a time when our community’s focus on technology appears to drive nearly all decision-making, strategy as capacity building explicitly restores our shared humanity to the core of strategy-making by starting with a clear and unwavering ethical purpose to advance human contribution. This foundational belief in people animates four essential strategic priorities: 1) building enduring human skills and networks for individuals, 2) building agency for collective action for communities, groups, and networks, 3) building coordination, cooperation, and collaboration between and among institutions, and 4) building increased confidence and solidarity among stakeholders in society.

Working within this strategy-as-capacity-building framework, association decision-makers can identify both strong and weak connections between the associative intent of potential stakeholders and their associations’ high-impact value creation. Through the thoughtful design of next business models, associations can expand their surface area of attraction by investing both intangible and tangible resources into their capacity-building work while wisely sacrificing activities that have outlived their utility to redirect organizational attention and energy toward shaping the future.

Look for Part VI in December

Part VI—the final article in this series—will be posted in December. In that closing article, I will provide further guidance to association decision-makers on how to take confident action on the first five “A” priorities outlined in this series. Enjoy the rest of October and November, thank you for reading, and please stay safe.