Growth strategies, diversifying revenue sources, innovative approaches to member engagement, and technology initiatives were on the minds of association executives who gathered on April 19^th at The Association Trends Finance Live Breakfast. Armed with a sneak preview of the 2012 Association Operational and Financial Excellence (AOFE) Survey, we co-facilitated a robust discussion among attendees about the current strategic thinking of association executives.

 The new executive wants to quickly establish his/her credibility and impact; the board seeks validation they’ve made a great decision; and staff want to know their contributions will still be valued and the organization will continue to be a great place to work.  Seeing a number of executive transitions taking place, we thought it might be timely to revisit segments of the article we wrote for CEO Update several years ago.  This article looks at executive transitions from the perspective on the in-coming executive during the period of time we call “Fast Drying Cement”.