Ever since announcement and rumor of massive changes at ISA, discussions over the phone, by blogs, through twitter and even LinkedIn have consumed huge amounts of productive time. Members and observers are wondering what’s happening and whether the association will survive–or if it does, what will it look like.

Rex Hammock recently thought about a couple of other associations and offered his thoughts on associations and their future. One quote he lifted from Gary Hamel is interesting, “Problems happen when the leaders of an association are behind the thinking of their members,” he said. “That’s when denial occurs. That’s when digging in and protecting the status quo occurs.”

Jim Pinto and I have columns focused on ISA in the November issue of Automation World available online in early November. Watch for that–and send your comments.