CEO’s Perspective: Drawing Connections, Sparking Joy

If you’ve followed pop culture at all in the past year or so, you know that the KonMari Method for organization is all the rage. Popularized by Japanese organization expert Marie Kondo, the KonMari Method calls on us to keep only those things that spark joy, and to discard that which does not—but only after thanking it for all it has done for us.

Today, we officially say goodbye to LINKS, ANCOR’s long-time bimonthly publication, and thank it for all it has done for us. From its earliest days as a print brochure that members received by mail, to its later iteration as a hard-copy magazine, and eventually to its role as a fully online newsletter, LINKS has been a critical source of information for ANCOR members about what’s happening within our association, our field and our world. Thank you, LINKS, for sparking joy for ANCOR members every time you’ve landed in our mailboxes and our inboxes.

As we say goodbye to LINKS, we say hello to Connections, ANCOR’s newest digital information resource. Connections will be a monthly publication that you’ll find in your inbox toward the end of each month, as well as online at ancor.org/connections. We’ve transformed LINKS into Connections for a host of reasons. For starters, you need access to news and analysis when it’s most timely, and our previous bimonthly production schedule was less than ideal for helping us meet your needs. Moreover, we know that your time is more valuable than ever, and so we designed Connections to be more accessible, easier to digest and focused primarily on the issues that matter most to ANCOR members.

While this represents an important change, some things will remain the same. Connections will still include key features that you’ve come to rely on, such as Across the Board, Comings & Goings, the President’s Column and more. You may not see each feature every month, but as we enter the next chapter of our digital content strategy, we commit to connecting you with the information you need, when you need it. For that reason, you’ll also find Connections content—along with Capitol Correspondence articles and other timely news and analysis—in the brand-new “Latest” section of our website. Visit our homepage and bookmark ancor.org/latest for all our news.

I hope this new resource truly does spark some joy, and as always, I appreciate feedback from throughout the ANCOR community. Drop me a line to share your thoughts—I’d love to know what you think!