Sequence Consulting

A piece making the rounds this week: Sarah Hernholm published an interesting take in Forbes on the five human skills AI can't replace.

Her list runs from ethical judgment and empathy through creativity, critical thinking, and adaptive learning.

Sitting with the list as a firm that works inside the association world every day, what stands out is how often these are the same five capabilities that separate a thriving association from a stagnant one.

It makes the whole "AI will replace us" conversation fall flat.

If your team had to grade itself on those five skills today, which one would honestly be the lowest?

Link to the Forbes piece in the comments.

A finding from the 2026 ASAE State of Associations report keeps coming up in our work.

Last year, 51.6% of associations created new programs. Only 19.1% retired any. The roster of programs keeps growing, and stopping one is rare.

That's how an association ends up with dozens of programs running at once and no clear sense of which ones are still worth running. New programs are easy to start. A member asks, it looks good on the agenda, it seems worth a try, and adding always feels safer than cutting. Stopping is the hard part, and it's usually the part that gets skipped.

If you had to retire one program this year, which one would put up the biggest fight?