I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately.

Recently I spent a day in Walt Disney World at EPCOT with a group of friends. It was a memorable day of connection, inspiration, and fun, and I got to wondering – how much of what I love about days like these is the result of the place itself – the rides, shows, food, etc. – and how much are the past memories I’ve made in that place?

This past couple of months, several annual fundraising benchmark studies have been released for nonprofit fundraising through 2022, and the picture is gloomy.

Online revenue is down, according to M+R

The long-running M+R Online Benchmarks 2023 study reported that overall online fundraising was down in 2022 by 4% - the first reported decline in online fundraising revenue in the entire history of the report, which has been running for more than a decade.

I was privileged to give a talk in Orlando this week called “How the Subscription Economy is Transforming Ministry Models.” In it, I unpacked how various nonprofits are adopting subscription models and shared ways for attendees to implement them in their organizations.

Today let’s continue our series on common, avoidable mistakes leaders make when leading innovation. Over the past couple of months, we’ve touched on several common mistakes or myths leaders buy into that hinder innovation.

So far, we’ve covered the following:

MYTH: Innovation is about ideas.

TRUTH: Innovation is about ideas, activation, and execution.

Today, we’ll continue our series on common, avoidable mistakes leaders make when leading innovation.

A couple of weeks ago, we unpacked the first of four mistakes – myths, really – around innovation.

That first mistake is to believe that innovation is all about ideas. The truth is that while ideation is essential to innovation, innovation requires activation and execution. I shared about a tool that I use to help clients identify and address issues that keep them from moving innovation forward, called the Six Types of Working Genius.

If you missed that article or want to review it, you can catch up on it here: Where Innovation Goes Wrong 🤦‍♂️.

This week, let’s talk about the next misconception that steers leaders wrong – assuming that innovation is new, and then I’d like to share three insights you can apply to your leadership today.

Last week, we talked about the ancient roots of innovation, covering three lessons we can learn from Martin Luther and the 16th century to apply to innovation today:

1. Innovation starts with purpose

2. Leverage your context.

3. Innovation requires collaboration.

I just wrapped up giving a talk at the Christian Leadership Alliance’s Outcomes 2023 conference in Chicago called “Where Innovation Goes Wrong.” Today, I thought I would briefly recap the first of four lessons I shared where innovation can go wrong.

I want to rewind the clock about 500 years and share three lessons we can learn from ancient history to apply to our leadership.

You see, I used to believe that innovation was about brand-new ideas. Original thinking. New concepts. Blue ocean strategies.

Then I spent a decade and a half leading innovation in one form or another. Starting new things. Building teams. After thousands of hours of leading and learning, I realized that many of my early assumptions about the nature of innovation were wrong.

One assumption I had made was that innovation was only about things that had never been done before. If it had been done, or if it was built on the work of someone else, was it really innovative?

I now believe that innovation is ancient.

Have you ever noticed that the more you know about any one thing, the less you realize you actually know?

This is a studied phenomenon, and it has a name - The Dunning-Kruger Effect:

Disney had a problem.

It was the year 2000, and Disney’s marquee hotel, the Disneyland Hotel, was separated from the theme park by more than half a mile of asphalt. Guests coming to California to visit the Happiest Place on Earth, staying at one of the most expensive properties in the area, would be wrenched out of the magic… Imagine walking from your classy hotel to the park across this asphalt parking lot on a sweltering summer day… not so magical!

I love conferences.

To be honest, the strong introvert in me is exhausted by them, but the community and connection outweigh the exhaustion. Meeting people who are passionate, who have different experiences than mine, and learning from each other.

I just returned from the Faith & Fundraising Conference in Myrtle Beach, where I gave a talk called “Subscription Philanthropy: Breakthroughs in Sustainable Giving” (I’ll cover this in a future edition).

But I’ve noticed something at conferences that has changed since 2020.

I want to help you win in 2023. To help you understand the waves that are coming and how to leverage those in your leadership.

So far this year, we’ve covered how to capitalize on artificial intelligence, short-form video, social media, and podcasts.

Today, let’s talk about recurring revenue and the Subscription Economy.

It’s no surprise in the modern era that we’ve seen the rise of the Subscription Economy in nearly every area of our lives - music, entertainment, software, productivity, news, shopping, and so on.

The Super Bowl took place this past Sunday.

Did you watch it?

Once a year, the best of the best brands square off in an intense competition. Who is going to stand out? Who will be the talk of the Monday morning digital water cooler? It’s modern head-to-head competition at its best.

Also, I understand that a football game was played between the ads. But let’s stay focused on what’s important... the commercials, of course!

Today I’d like to unpack another trend in 2023, how it might impact you, and share practical tips for how to make use of it – specifically, how social media is becoming less, well, social.

Today I’m going to unpack the power and prevalence of short-form video and what you can do to make use of this trend in 2023.

TikTok. Just the name evokes emotions among leaders…

I will unpack two more ways you can utilize Artificial Intelligence in 2023.

Before I do, I’d like to share a way of thinking about artificial intelligence that I found helpful when I first was trying to wrap my head around AI several years ago.

Technology throughout history has been all about augmenting human ability and intelligence. We’ve invented machines that help us build skyscrapers, plant vast amounts of crops, do complex mathematical calculations, fly to space, and so on. But at the end of the day, all that technology was doing was taking human capability and augmenting it. Technology effectively acted as a power tool, enabling humanity to do more and faster.

Artificial intelligence is different.

This week I’m starting a series on trends you can leverage in 2023. These aren’t just “trends to watch.” Instead, we’re going to get practical with trends and tools you can use or take advantage of in 2023.

This week and next are all about Artificial Intelligence. For instance, this week alone, I’ve used AI at least a dozen times to help me better serve my audience and clients. In a moment, I’ll share how I use artificial intelligence and how you can leverage AI in 2023 to help you do your job.

But first, I’ve noticed a trend in 2023 predictions that is a little disappointing to me.

Last week, I shared my favorite phrase to ponder as I reflect and plan on the year ahead, in business and in life – “At this phase of my life…” (or, “At this stage in our development…”).

It’s a reminder that all planning should start with understanding the intersection of who we are today and what our present context is. Only then can we properly discern what we should do in light of that.

Today is about words. More specifically, one word.

$10.6 BILLION. That's the estimate for total Halloween spending this year. It would be an all-time high, up from last year's previous record.

Have you ever been to a Spirit Halloween store? I’ve always been fascinated by the business model. They pop up seemingly overnight every August in abandoned retail spaces and defunct department stores and are gone just as quickly once Halloween comes and goes.

Before I share what happened five centuries ago, and the lessons I think we can learn from it, let me first say something.

I believe that Innovation is Ancient.