Highland's President and CEO joins The Association Insights Podcast to argue that ownership of programs is no longer where the association value proposition lives.
For decades, associations built their strategy around what they owned. Certifications, conferences, publications, journals, career boards. Ownership was the moat.
That moat has thinned. Younger professionals can find most of what an association offers somewhere else, in a form that fits their week and their budget. The strategic question is moving from "what do we own?" to "what trusted position do we occupy in someone's career?"
That question sits at the center of a new conversation between Jon Berbaum, President and CEO of Highland, and host Colleen Gallagher on The Association Insights Podcast (powered by OnWrd & UpWrd). The episode kicks off a September series produced with Highland on younger professional engagement.
A few threads Jon pulls in the conversation:
- The decision to join and the decision to stay are two different problems. Most associations have built for the first without building for the second.
- Weak younger professional engagement is a long-term risk to mission, revenue, and relevance. Treating it as a one-off marketing problem misses the scale of what's at stake.
- AI can do more than trim staff hours. It can coordinate an association's resources and personalize career support in ways that create direct member value.
- The initial join marks the beginning of a relationship. It confirms interest, but not commitment.
Listen to the full episode
Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube Podcasts.
Colleen and Highland's David Whited will continue the series throughout September with association leaders sharing what is working, before David closes out the series and connects those conversations back to Highland's research.
Association leaders who want to see where their organization stands on the enablers that drive younger professional retention can take the Young Professional Membership Index. Fifteen minutes returns a benchmark across engagement, retention, and AI maturity.
