Whether we anchor ourselves to "the way things have always been done" or chase every new shiny initiative, binocular vision is a trap to which every leader is susceptible.
Traps like this are so nefarious because they rob us of our most important resource: Time. That's because every new initiative risks solving the wrong problem, even if the idea itself is creative, innovative, and fresh. The more exciting a solution is, the more likely we will pump more and more of our temporal budget into it.
That's why, before we expend our limited bandwidth, we need to find the answer to one fundamental question:
What problem should we be trying to solve?
A full-blown mentorship initiative that may work great for a more extensive chapter may strain the resources of a small alumni organization. Likewise, a more active chapter with hundreds of events each year may cannibalize other initiatives with the conflicting offering. In contrast, a small or medium-sized chapter might excel if they make the mentorship program their keystone event, and that program solves an ingrained need for the chapter.
This section explores a few initiatives your chapter can do to get started.