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11/10/2025

The Virtue of Doing Less

Leaders are often charged to add new projects without having any projects removed

An association leader or board member can be easily enchanted by one word: more. More products and services, more member groups to reach out to, more sponsors, more advocacy efforts and on and on.

It's a natural instinct for a mission-driven organization: If your goal is to make sure that the International Widget Society promotes the importance of widgets to every person on the planet, then your widget-y work is never done.

But the "more" philosophy can be self-defeating. More effort means more layers of supervision and management, more stress, more expense—and, quite often, very little payoff. Writing in Fast Company,productivity expert Donna McGeorge puts a spotlight on the toll this can take on leaders. Accumulation, she writes, "gathers layers: inherited systems, obligations that no longer serve a purpose. Often, there's the comforting illusion that being across everything means being in control. But this is a fragile place to be."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.

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