Recently, I completed the University of South Florida (USF) DEI Certificate program. If you haven’t heard about it, the USF program was one of the first ones in the United States developed in response to the social upheaval of the early 2020s that was partly related to a lot of hidden tensions rising to the surface as power structures shifted. We started talking openly about things that in the past were left unsaid or discussed in hushed tones privately.

Radio Free 501c is the voice of Rogue Tulips Consulting. This episode: the author reads her weekly Rogue Speak message.

Last week, the CAE Exam results for December 2022 were released. There were many happy individuals who not only celebrated but breathed a sigh of relief! The waiting is over and all the hard work paid off.

Radio Free 501c is the audio version of the Rogue Speak message published weekly by Rogue Tulips Consulting.

We’ve all seen it. Someone who presents well, is articulate, and shows enthusiasm for the organization (meaning they have participated and contributed), gets appointed or elected to the Board of Directors. Everyone has high hopes for this individual and looks forward to their tenure. Then, like the story of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” they become a completely different person than you expected. Their behavior is passive-aggressive. They are obstacles to forward movement.

Radio Free 501c is the audio version of the Rogue Speak message published weekly by Rogue Tulips Consulting.

ASAE has Standards of Conduct for members, and at the August 2022 ASAE Board meeting, the organization even added a new one. These are not aspirational, meaning they are not something you “try to do.” These are the Standards of Conduct we should use and model in our daily lives and so we should use these to the best of our ability. It demonstrates to the world that we are a profession that should be taken seriously because we take ourselves and our work seriously.

Like the saying “there’s an association for everything,” there is also a specially designated day for everyone! I often talk about how December is a month-long holiday including everything from religious observances to solstices to “national” days of all kinds. Most of us don’t get to take an entire month off but it is a month of special days that we can learn about and celebrate.

In the dystopian 1970s film, “Soylent Green,” [spoiler alert] soylent green is a food product that is distributed by the evil corporation that runs the United States. Charlton Heston plays a detective who learns the truth about the food product: It’s made of people! That’s right: The only food product left on a dying planet is people.

In online communities for our nonprofit management profession, I often see our colleagues request samples of other people’s work, from member surveys to HR policies to travel processes. There are many reasons people request “other people’s work” such as seeking varied approaches and data, validating a proposed approach, or showing volunteer leadership that something is a common approach or best practice.

One of the things that bothers me about the Khardashianization of society (whew – try saying THAT 3 times fast) is that it overlooks how many people are part of the success of an individual. While so many are distracted by the celebrity of one person, no one accomplishes anything by themselves.

I’ve had a Twitter account for years, but I don’t use it to get news – or any other social media platform as a news source. If I want to get the news, I check out 3 or 4 news platforms to get the full story. But sadly, there are too many people who think that Twitter is an important news and information source when it really is not. It’s like watching “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central to get the news. It’s probably not your best source.

Today we are about one month away from the start of the December 2022 CAE Exam period, which runs December 1 – 14. If you are taking the exam next month, you have already prepared by joining a study group, working with a study buddy, or taking a course. Heck, you may have done all these things!

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: the obsession with hiring “the young” continues to get in the way of building generationally diverse teams in nonprofit organizations. Dear reader, you may think “obsession” is a bit strong for this topic, but I use it because I believe there are misconceptions about the abilities of “older people” when it comes to technology expertise, keeping up with trends, and being able to “relate to” younger people.

It’s a bit early for Halloween but when the news headlines are filled with horror, it’s a motivator to revisit the stories of this scary season and how they still apply today. The news this week has the scariest headline I’ve seen all year: Boston University researchers develop a deadlier version of the COVID virus by combining two strains. Headlines and stories noted that this combined strain has an 80% mortality rate in mice.

We hear many voices in our lives and the ones that shake our worldview are the ones we tend to dismiss first. If a voice doesn’t fit with the story we have designed for ourselves or our organization, we decide it must be of little or no consequence. If I had a wrong answer buzzer, I would be pressing it now.

We’ve all heard of déjà vu, that feeling of “haven’t I been here before? Heard that before? Done this before?” When it comes to the conversations people have with each other, we tend to talk about the same things over and over. I was reminded of this yesterday when I participated in a networking group discussion that turned to the “world of telework.”

Association management is a vocation; it is a profession; and for an increasing number of people, it is a career choice. It is a craft which requires a complex mix of skills, knowledge, and experience, dexterously combining knowledge of association culture, structure, and politics, with a whole spectrum of professional expertise, ranging from strategy and advocacy to marketing and event management, and everything in between.

The nonprofit profession is supposed to have a higher calling. It’s why many of us chose this profession for our career, and why others move into this profession later in life when they realize they want to do something good for society and the world.

One of the most entertaining films of the 1950s is a Cecil B. DeMille production: “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Starring Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Jimmy Stewart, and acts from the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Baily Circus, it is a melodramatic tale of a season in the circus’ life.