By Dara Rudick, CAE, MHQ CEO
It wasn’t what I was expecting.
My early-morning dog walks are usually quiet and contemplative. This particular morning, as Tucker stopped for his usual tree sniff, I heard someone talking. I looked around to see who was so articulate at 6 a.m.
I didn’t see anyone.
I squinted my eyes. I craned my neck. Was I imagining this?
“I’m up here!” The only place left to look was up. “I saw you looking around, so I wanted to make sure you knew where I was,” said a voice from the top of a 30-foot tree.
“Wow!” came into my head and out of my mouth. “Impressive – I wasn’t expecting that!”
“It’s a great tree,” was the reply.
I smiled and was on my way.
Do I live in “Portlandia”? Almost. I live in Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis — a community that’s creative, connected, and a little weird. I love it here.
And here’s something nearly two decades in my neighborhood, and almost thirty years in association work have taught me: the best surprises come from looking up – not from staring at what’s right in front of us.
Not so different from how we as leaders are called upon to perform each day. We’re tasked with building the right teams and offerings. We exist to support our communities. And we must ensure stakeholders choose our organization amid the competition and noise.
I was reminded of this recently in my strategy work. Last year, I led a 60-minute strategy session for the board of one of our newer associations. They came to us stable and understandably cautious — hoping to stay relevant to current members, replace the ones they’d lose to retirement, and keep drawing on reserves to operate.
My role wasn’t to hand them a vision. It was to facilitate a process where their own would surface. Privately, I figured their vision would stick to the usual “stay the course.”
Then the incoming president opened with something broad and ambitious. He created space for the board to look up — and they did. By the end of the hour, they’d set audacious yet achievable goals and named ways to lead their field rather than simply keep pace with it.
I think both they and I were surprised by the aspirations in that room. The opportunity had been there; the brilliance of the team and the structure of the session had unleashed it.
I’m invited to lead this board’s strategy session again this year. I get to witness their progress and help them plan what’s next. Halfway through 2026, supported by the expert leadership of their executive director, they’ve aimed high, missed a few marks, and kept climbing — focused, undeterred, invested in taking their association higher.
That’s the thing about looking up. It costs nothing but attention, and it changes what becomes possible.
What might surface in your organization — or your life — if you looked up and expected greatness?
About MHQ
Driven by the vision of a thriving, vibrant community, MHQ is a woman-owned, world-class management company that delivers customized services. Founded in 2013, MHQ has provided association management services since its inception, as well as infrastructure to organizations in a range of industries. We serve professional and trade associations, as well as government and public sector entities. For more about MHQ, visit https://www.management-hq.com/.
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