By Ilya Pozin

The paper business card has lost its significance–and utility. Check out a few digital alternatives designed to make networking easier.

It’s time to ask yourself: How many business cards have you collected that never again see the light of day?

Seriously. This is an important question.

My mentor Tom Antion doesn’t use business cards as a rule. Why not? If people need to reach him and it’s that important, they will find a way. I tend to agree. I haven’t had any business cards for many years. Instead, I make a point of asking new connections to email me. (When I respond I make sure to include my full contact information.) I have seen people at networking events in L.A. using their phones to type contact information right there on the spot. Fast-forward a few years, and maybe all of us Google Glass-wearing techies can just look at each other to swap contact info. Here’s to the future.

I propose skipping the formal and mindless business card exchange if you really want to develop a professional relationship with a contact. Try these alternatives instead:

Stick to Your Inbox

There’s nothing worse than having to scour your email for the contact information of someone you need to call quickly. I’ve remedied this task with help from WriteThat.Name. This tool acts as your personal email assistant to keep all of your contacts automatically updated.

WriteThat.Name scans the signatures of the people you’re emailing, extracts their information, and merges it with contacts on your email and phone. The best part of this tool is that your contacts aren’t just on your phone; they’re also in the cloud for safekeeping.

If you want to keep things as simple as possible, ask new contacts to shoot you an email prior to saying goodbye. This method can be easily implemented with WriteThat.Name and is also a great way to ensure you never miss a chance to follow-up with someone you’ve met.

Get Smarter With Your Smartphone

If you prefer a software solution rather than a business card, Bump might be the app for you. Available for iPhone and Android, the best part of this app is its ability to transmit information from your phone to your computer. It might be a challenge if you’re looking to Bump contact information from someone who doesn’t have it downloaded–but 125 million Bump downloads so far indicates the odds are relatively good you’ll find someone with the same app.

If you’re not quite ready to go completely cardless, try LinkedIn’s CardMunch app. It turns business cards into contacts. If you collect a business card at a networking event, simply snap a picture with your camera and let the app works its magic. The picture is immediately converted to a contact, and it also links directly to your new connection’s LinkedIn profile information and connections you have in common.

I’ve only scratched the surface of business card alternatives. What do you use?

Ilya Pozin founded his first company, Ciplex, at 17. The digital marketing and creative agency caters to small businesses and start-ups. @ilyaNeverSleeps

NBC-CAM hosts a listserv for community association managers. The listserv is intended to create a powerful, on-line community for community management professionals to share information. Recently, some questions have been sent to the listserv. Are you able to help? Leave and answer in the comment section below and NBC-CAM staff will post your answer to the listserv

Question 1: Larry from Louisiana

We are trying to write a swimming pool rule relative to owner’s guest’s use of the pool.  If you have a policy in that regard, would you kindly share it? 

Question 2: Steven from Virginia

Is anyone having issues with mail being stolen from mailboxes?  How are you handling the situation?

Question 3: Sarah from Minnesota

My association in MN has stringent rules on leasing, including you may only lease one time, no exceptions. We have a unit owner who has violated that rule after being sent a letter denying him his request for waiver of the leasing restrictions to begin a new lease agreement with a new tenant. The governing documents do not mention the association having the right to evict a tenant if this happens. I have searched the statutes and laws and can only find laws pertaining to landlord and tenant. Does the association have any right to evict a tenant due to the landlord/homeowner violating the governing documents? My belief is no, but looking for advice.

Question 4: Kama from Texas

I am requesting information on security software/systems that other communities use for guest access control. We have 1000+ doors and a lot of contractor traffic with a 24/7 manned gate house.  We are researching driver’s license scanning and also license plate recognition with the ability to print guest passes that will track all visitors/guests while on property. Do any of you have any recommendations or suggestions on systems that you have experience with?

By: Heidi Grant Halvorson

Life is full of negotiations, big and small. We negotiate for raises, we negotiate with clients and providers over prices, and we negotiate for more staff, the best projects, and flex time. (Then we go home and negotiate with our kids about how old you have to be to get your own smartphone.)

To be successful, you really need to know how to negotiate well. But the truth is, this particular skill doesn’t come naturally to many people. This is because a negotiation is an experience that is rife with conflicting motivations. When you haggle with another party over price, you need to somehow reconcile your desire to pay (or be paid) your target amount with your fear that if you push too hard, the negotiation may break down. You might end up empty-handed, humiliated, or out of a job. Negotiations are always gambles, and there is always risk.

Who Keeps Their Eyes on The Prize?
One quality that great negotiators possess is the ability to stay focused on their ideal target, despite the risks they are facing. As research conducted by Columbia’s Adam Galinsky and his collegues shows, those most able to do it have what’s called a promotion focus.

Promotion-focused people think about their goals as opportunities to gain — to advance or achieve, to end up better off than they are now. Whenever we think about our goals in terms of potential gains, we automatically (often without realizing it) become more comfortable with risk and less sensitive to concerns about what could go wrong. Prevention-focused people, on the other hand, think about their goals in terms of what they could lose if they don’t succeed — they want to stay safe and keep things running smoothly. Consequently, when we are prevention-focused, we become much more conservative and risk-averse.

These different ways of looking at the same goal impact everything about us — our strengths and weaknesses, the strategies we use, and what motivates us. When the goal in question is to pay the lowest price or to get the biggest raise, our focus has profound effects on the way we negotiate.

The Bold Opener
A second essential in negotiation is a strong opening bid, since that bid is the jumping off point as well as the frame of reference for the negotiation that follows. You are never going to end up paying less than your initial offer when purchasing a car or making a bigger salary than you asked for when starting your new job. But a strong opening bid takes a certain amount of confidence — and promotion focus helps us achieve this.

In a study, 54 MBA student were divided into pairs and asked them to take part in a mock negotiation involving the sale of a pharmaceutical plant. Both the “seller” and “buyer” were given detailed information about the circumstances of the sale, including the fact that the “bargaining zone” would range from $17-25 million dollars.

The researchers then manipulated the focus of the buyers to be either promotion or prevention (I’ll explain how you do that later). The negotiation then began with an opening bid from the buyer. Promotion-focused buyers opened with a bid an average of nearly $4 million dollars less than prevention-focused buyers. They were willing to take the greater risk and bid aggressively low, which ultimately paid off in a big way. In the end, promotion buyers purchased the plant for an average of $21.24 million, while prevention buyers paid $24.07 million.

This is one of those things that is worth taking a moment to think about — two negotiators, each armed with identical information, facing similar opponents, and yet one overpays by nearly $4 million dollars. The only difference was that one negotiator was thinking about all that he could gain, while the other focused too much on what he had to lose.

Making The Pie Bigger For Everyone
Promotion focus helps you get a bigger piece of the pie than your opponent. But of course, not every negotiation has to have a winner and a loser. In multiple issue negotiations, there is the possibility of outcomes that are beneficial to both parties, because each party may not prioritize every issue the same way. By yielding on lower priority issues, both parties can reach compromises that get them what they want most – a solution that, as Galinsky and colleagues put it “expands the pie.”

Who is most likely to find these optimally beneficial solutions? It probably won’t surprise you to learn that when the researchers placed both parties in a multiple issue negotiation in a promotion focus, they reached the maximally efficient outcome 79% of the time (compared to only 65% of the time when they were prevention-focused).

How You Can Become More Promotion-Focused
Even if you are naturally prevention-focused or if you tend to become prevention-focused when faced with the uncertainties of negotiation, you can become promotion-focused when you need to be. All you need to do is take a minute or two to focus only on what you have to gain and what you hope to achieve and banish all thoughts of what you might lose.

For example, to put his buyers in a promotion focus, Galinsky simply asked them the following :

Please take a couple of minutes to think about the aspirations you have in a negotiation. What are the negotiation behaviors and outcomes you hope to achieve during a negotiation? How you could promote these behaviors and outcomes?

It’s really as simple as that. When you are preparing for your next negotiation, take a moment to list everything you hope to accomplish, and all the ways in which you will benefit if you are successful. Re-read this list just before the negotiation begins. And most importantly, shut out any thoughts about what could go wrong — just refuse to give them your attention.

With practice, this focus-training will become easier and eventually more or less automatic. Negotiating can become second nature to you if you think about your goals in the right way.

For HOAs, covenant enforcements can be one of the most unpleasant things to deal with. After all, who really looks forward to telling residents they can’t display a flag they are passionate about?

A lot of homeowners know about most covenants they must abide by and are happy to do so but some are, how shall we say it? Less aware and less receptive.

Pia Trigiani, who works as an attorney in Virginia and authored a book on reasonable rules as they pertain to covenant enforcement, said there are some basic covenant enforcements one should understand when it comes to flag displays.

State laws may provide protection to owners who wish to display the American flag.

“Typical language you will hear regarding these protections is that a community association may not prohibit the display of the American flag unless flying the American flag is specifically prohibited by the associations rules and regulations and the regulations are disclosed to an owner at the time they purchase the lot,” she said.

She added that the act permits a community association to establish reasonable restrictions as to the time, size, place, duration, and manner of placement or display of an American flag.

When talking about holiday displays, Trigiani said the same basic rules apply and that limiting or establishing rules about holiday displays must be based on architectural restrictions established in the recorded government documents.

“The challenge is making sure that in restricting holiday displays, an association does not discriminate against anyone,” she said. “Under Fairhousing laws, discrimination against religion is prohibited so rules that apply to one holiday display must apply to all.”

What do you think are reasonable expectations for flying a flag? How would you handle somebody flying what could be considered an offensive flag, like a Confederate flag? As a reminder, Flag Day is tomorrow, June 14.

Adapted from an article by Jon Howland

As summertime begins and the weather warms up, homeowners will put their laundry out on a clothesline to dry.  Homeowners living in HOAs, condos or other common interest communities may be violating community rules by hanging their wardrobe up outside.

Nationwide, more than a quarter million homeowner associations govern upwards of 60 million people. Alexander Lee, a champion of the “right-to-dry” movement, estimates that “more than half of them (HOAs) restrict or ban the clothesline.”

A “right-to-dry” movement has sprung up and won laws in six states––Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, and Vermont—to render bans on clotheslines void and unenforceable. In another 13 states, solar access laws already on the books appear to protect solar drying.

Clotheslines appear to fit under the umbrella of states’ solar rights because systems for hang-drying rely on the sun’s radiation to evaporate water in wet laundry. Clotheslines rely on solar energy, so their use is protected where laws provide blanket allowances for use of solar.

Solar access laws in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin all delineate a homeowner’s right to install a “solar energy system,” “solar energy device,” “solar collector,” “system for obtaining solar energy” or “solar energy collection device.” The legal terminology varies, but the letter and spirit of these laws has one overarching message: homeowners may utilize the power of the sun

Yet in all of these 19 states, illegal bans persist in community rulebooks, such as HOA Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs), and a number that likely runs into the millions of residents do not know they already have a right to dry. Solar access laws, many of them from the 1970s, and obscure amendments to state property law may not be well known.

Do you know your state law? Does your community have a policy on clotheslines?

As Memorial Day approaches, Americans will be flying the American flag to demonstrate their patriotism and support of our country.  Learn more about the Federal Flag Code and how set rules and standards for your association.

By Erika Andersen

You can’t lead if you can’t learn. And not all adults learn that well. How to change that
Here’s a puzzle: Even though people talk about leadership all the time, and roughly eight kajillion leadership books have been published, we’re still plagued with fair to poor leaders in many, perhaps most, organizations.

Why is this? Part of the problem is that most of us, deep down, don’t really think it’s possible for an okay leader to become a great leader. We believe leadership ability is inborn. Either you have it or you don’t. Unfortunately, thinking something is impossible makes it very difficult to accomplish.

The other difficulty is that most adults aren’t very good learners. In order to become the best leader (or, actually, the best anything) you’re capable of being, you have to become a great learner. Here are the three things most required to be that kind of powerful learner:

Accurate self-awareness
To get better at something, you have to be clear about your current knowledge or capability. For example, I met someone a few months ago who thinks he’s a truly great leader, while nearly everyone around him sees him as a poor leader.

I call this kind of deeply inaccurate self-assessment The American Idol Syndrome, in honor of all those contestants who are convinced they’re going to be the next pop sensation but who can’t actually sing. Their lack of accurate self-awareness makes it nearly impossible for them to be open to feedback or learning.

In order to master anything, you have to start by being able to objectively assess your own current capability.

Curiosity
True curiosity is a very powerful thing, and it’s built into all of us. Anyone who’s ever been around a little kid can attest to that. Their endless asking of “why?” and “how come?” and “what’s that?” all arise from that impulse to investigate: curiosity. For children, curiosity is a powerful, instinctive survival mechanism. The more they understand about their environment, and the more quickly they understand it, the more likely they are to succeed as human beings. Kids’ insatiable curiosity drives them to learn to speak, eat, walk, and interact with other people remarkably quickly. It leads them to know what is dangerous and what is safe, what is delicious and what is disgusting, what is useful and what is pointless.

Unfortunately, many of us lose touch with that inborn curiosity as we become adults. We assume we understand things well enough, thank you very much. Also, our curiosity is often stifled by others. We’re taught, “mind your own business,” “don’t read ahead,” and “do what you’re told.” These are all clear societal messages to stop investigating the environment.

In order to learn to be a great leader, you have to re-connect with your innate curiosity. The best learners and the most successful leaders are continually asking curiosity-based questions such as, “How does that work?” and “Why is that happening?” and “How can I….?” and “What if…?”

Be willing to be not-good
This may be the toughest aspect of true learning. The path to being great at anything includes many, many points of being not great. Or even not good. That’s frustrating and embarrassing.

This is especially difficult for people who are smart and quick learners in general. The first time they run into something that requires real time and effort to master, where their initial efforts are clunky or incorrect, their impulse is to give up and go back to stuff they’re already good at.

Being able to keep going, and to work through incompetence, is essential to real learning of any kind. Real learning requires both being OK with our own initial ineptness and faith in our ability to get through it.

So if you want to get good at anything, you need to be realistic about where you’re starting from; unleash your innate curiosity; and be willing to be not-great before you get great. And the results are powerful: as a master learner, you have the key to becoming the best leader–or anything else–you can be.

Erika Andersen is the founding partner of Proteus, a consulting and training firm that focuses on leader readiness. She serves as coach and advisor to the senior executives of such companies as GE, Time Warner Cable, TJX, NBCUniversal and Union Square Hospitality Group

by Amy Gallo

If you want to become a leader, don’t wait for the fancy title or the corner office. You can begin to act, think, and communicate like a leader long before that promotion. Even if you’re still several levels down and someone else is calling all the shots, there are numerous ways to demonstrate your potential and carve your path to the role you want.

What the Experts Say
“It’s never foolish to begin preparing for a transition no matter how many years away it is or where you are in your career,” says Muriel Maignan Wilkins, coauthor of Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence. Michael Watkins, the chairman of Genesis Advisers and author of The First 90 Days and Your Next Move, agrees. Not only does the planning help you develop the necessary skills and leadership presence, it also increases your chances of getting the promotion because people will already recognize you as a leader. The key is to take on opportunities now, regardless of your tenure or role. “You can demonstrate leadership at any time no matter what your title is,” says Amy Jen Su, coauthor of Own the Room. Here are several ways to start laying the groundwork.

Knock your responsibilities out of the park
No matter how big your ambitions, don’t let them distract you from excelling in your current role. Focus on the present as much as — or more than — the future. “You still have to deliver results in your day job,” says Jen Su. Adds Maignan Wilkins: “You always need to take care of today’s business so that nobody — peers, direct reports, or those above you — questions your performance.” That’s the first step to getting ahead.

Help your boss succeed
“You have to execute on your boss’s priorities too,” says Watkins. “Show her that you’re willing to pick up the baton on important projects.” Maignan Wilkins also suggests you “lean more towards yes than no” whenever your boss asks you to help with something new. Find out what keeps your manager up at night and propose solutions to those problems.

Seize leadership opportunities, no matter how small
Make sure your “let me take that on” attitude extends beyond your relationship with your boss. Raise your hand for new initiatives, especially ones that might be visible to those outside your unit. “This will give others a taste of what you’ll be like in a more senior role,” says Maignan Wilkins. It doesn’t have to be an intense, months-long project. It might be something as simple as facilitating a meeting, offering to help with recruiting events, or stepping in to negotiate a conflict between peers. You might find opportunities outside of work, too. You can sit on the board of a local nonprofit or organize your community’s volunteer day. “These activities send the signal that you aspire to leadership potential,” Watkins says.

Look for the white space
Another way to prove your potential is to take on projects in the “white space.” These are problems that others aren’t willing to tackle or don’t even know exist. “Every organization has needs that nobody is paying attention to, or people are actively ignoring,” Maignan Wilkins says. For example, you might be able to identify a customer need that isn’t being met by your company’s current product line, and propose a new one. Or you could do a quick analysis of how much a specific change would save the company. When you take on a task that no one else is willing to do, you make yourself stand out.

Don’t be a jerk
There’s a fine line between being ambitious and acting like you’re too big for your britches. “Don’t try to exert authority when you don’t have it,” says Watkins. Practice what he calls “steward leadership”: focus on what your team wants to accomplish instead of putting yourself first. Jen Su recommends “humble confidence,” showing appropriate modesty in your
role, while having the self-assurance to know that you will rise to the next level.

Be cautious when sharing your ambitions
It’s appropriate to raise your ambitions with your manager if you have a trusting, solid relationship, but frame them in a way that focuses on what’s best for the company. Jen Su suggests you lay out your accomplishments for the past year and then ask something like, “As we look further out, where do you see me continuing to make a contribution?” Watkins warns that these conversations shouldn’t come off as being all about you. Instead, engage in a two-way conversation with your boss. If you have the kind of boss who may feel threatened by your aspirations, it’s better to keep your ambitions quiet and prove your potential.

Find role models
Look for people who have the roles you want and study what they do — how they act, communicate, and dress. “Pick someone at the next level, someone similar to you, and find a way to work with them,” says Watkins. Volunteer for a committee they’re spearheading or offer to help with one of their pet projects. Identify behaviors that you can emulate while being true to yourself. “You don’t want to fake it,” says Maignan Wilkins. It might also help to study people who are stuck in their careers as examples of what not to do, Watkins says. Are they clumsy politically? Do they disrespect the lines of authority? Do they fail to make connections between departments?

Build relationships
There’s an old adage, “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.” When you’re evaluated for a promotion, it’s unlikely your boss will sit in a room alone and contemplate your potential. She’ll rely on others to assess your ability, which means you need supporters across the organization — people who are aware of the work you’re doing. “If you find yourself walking down the hall with the most senior person at your company, be prepared to answer the question, ‘So what are you up to?'” Maignan Wilkins says, “Don’t take lightly any interactions that may seem informal. Treat every situation as an opportunity to demonstrate the value you bring to the organization and your knowledge of the business.”

Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review. Follow her on Twitter at @amyegallo

The Foundation for Community Association Research has released 2012 National and State data. Here are some of the highlights:

Four Reasons for the Growth of Community Associations

The Value of Collective Management. Americans largely have accepted the collective management structure of community association living. Similar restrictions often exist in rental apartment lease agreements and in zoning laws and building codes that govern traditional single-family, detached housing. In traditional housing, however, such restrictions are adopted and administered by public bodies rather than by association boards composed of homeowners who are elected by their neighbors to govern communities.

Privatizing Public Functions. Because of the fiscal challenges faced by many local municipalities, communities are often created with the stipulation that the developer will create an association that will assume many responsibilities that traditionally belonged to local and state government (e.g., road maintenance, snow removal, trash pickup and storm water management). This privatization allows local jurisdictions to permit the continued development of needed housing without having to pay directly for that infrastructure through property taxes.

Expanding Affordable Homeownership. There has been a persistent effort to increase the percentage of homeowners in America. Almost from their inception in the 1960s, condominiums have tended to serve as lower-cost entry housing, especially for first-time buyers. This was especially true of early condominium conversions in which apartment buildings were refurbished into condominiums. In today’s economic climate, achieving affordability is a perpetual challenge. Without the construction and operating efficiencies inherent in association development and operations, fewer Americans would be able to purchase homes.

Minimizing Social Costs and Fostering Market Efficiencies. Community associations not only maintain home values, but also reduce the need for government oversight and expenditures by providing services, assigning payment responsibility to homeowners and being responsive to local concerns.