Aloha, Peggy

Longtime pal/colleague Peggy passed away on Saturday after a battle with lung cancer. AE in Hawaii, then New Mexico. She's on my mind, so wanted to share two things uniquely Peggy - that relate to association management.

1. Bad idea radar and filter. Peggy had a sense about what was a bad idea. She'd scrunch up her face and say "what do you think about that?" Or if someone went through a whole explanation about a program she thought questionable, she'd say "could you explain it another way?" Then one of two things would happen -- it would sound better the second time, or be totally exposed when explained the other way. She also sometimes questioned, "now I know what you're doing, but could you explain why we need to do that?" And find the answer to why different from the answer to what. Remarkable way to get better insight.

2. If you want to help, pray. When Peggy was first diagnosed a few of us had thoughts about how to help - we'd collect airline/hotel points to help her and family with frequent travel to cancer center in Houston; or try to be resource for her staff, etc. Peggy said no, she only wanted one thing -- for everyone to pray. Sometimes when people say they don't need anything, there's a chance what they really mean is exactly what she said -- if you want to help, pray.

Aloha, Peggy.