Once upon a time there was the Green Mill. There still is, but only the name survived.

In the Twin Cities it’s a well-known restaurant chain specializing in pizza. Before that it was a 3/2 beer joint, sort of like Cheers … everybody knew everyone’s name … but more poorly lit and with stickier floors.

It was, to put a word on it, a community. Then they added deep dish pizza to the menu, it became a go-to place for a more affluent crowd, and while its profits soared its community-ness evaporated.

Once upon a time there was the Little Wagon. It was where you went Friday after work if you worked for the Minneapolis newspaper. It was where we built strong relationships and weak livers.

But over time the whole idea of congregating after work for conversations and conversational lubricants just faded away: More and more of us left work on Fridays to start the weekend with our families, leaving socializing at the Wagon to a shrinking group of loyalists who worked on their cirrhosis the way more fashion-minded individuals worked on their tans.

And then, once upon another time there was the local association.

On my resume I brag (well, I mention) having served as president of the Minnesota Telecommunications Association. We met monthly at a local hotel, September through June, to socialize, compare notes, enjoy dinner, listen to a speaker talking about a topic relevant to the assembled multitude, and then disband so as to re-band at the hotel bar.

But over time we went from taking over the bar, to taking over a few tables at the bar, to occupying a couple of booths, to … well, to go home to our families.

As bar attendance declined, so meeting attendance declined. Eventually the MTA faded out of existence.

And with it went all of the personal networking that used to be one of the main attractions for joining.

Which leads to this week’s questions:

• Is the demise of the local association … the sort with regular events that provide opportunities to socialize (and, yes, “network”) … just my perception based on my personal experience as biased sample? Or is this a real phenomenon?
• To the extent the trend is real, what’s your substitute? Where and how do you make the social connections local associations used to be a vehicle for?

Bob’s last word: My research says I’m just out of touch – the associations and associations of associations report that associations are a growth industry.

But given the source, some of this analysis might be nothing more than the expected boosterism, and more might be that the reported trends are based on sample bias: There’s no reason to expect the same level of survey response from failed or failing associations than from successful ones.

Bob’s sales pitch: Do you like the ideas and approaches you read here in Keep the Joint Running but want more depth? I’ve written a dozen books to give you just that. You’ll find the list here.

Christopher Lee just might have been the most typecast actor ever. He was, perhaps, the most phenomenal villain of all time and rarely played anything else.

He also out-Kevin-Bacon’ed Kevin Bacon as the center of the Hollywood universe as computed by The Oracle of Bacon.

Not to compare myself with Sir Lee, but I’ve been feeling typecast for several years now.

My consulting “specialty” is generalist, but always in and around IT and business integration and organizational effectiveness. What I’ve been doing is application portfolio rationalization (APR) and nothing but APR.

No, no, don’t cry for me Argentina. Or, if your name is Brad I still don’t want you to cry for me, although I might manage to muster some interest in how you’d make the lyric scan.

Now that I’ve successfully buried the lede (not “lead”), I hereby announce my return to private practice, effective, appropriately enough, April Fool’s Day, when, (I hope), enlightened KJR subscribers (I trust you’ll forgive the redundancy) and like-minded souls might want to engage my services in an advisory capacity.

Will this change KJR?

We’ll see. I figure the more clients I have and the more diverse the nature of the engagements, the more topics I’ll feel qualified to write about. On the other hand, if this turns out to be just a gentle transition to retirement, you might find yourself reading more re-runs than before.

I’ll probably scribe more “A Consultant Reads the Newspaper” articles than I used to – interpretations of current events through the lens of what I know about organizational dynamics, providing commentary the mass-market pundits seem to be missing.

But not a lot of them, on the grounds that just because I have an opinion doesn’t mean I have an opinion worth sharing. That is, as someone once said, the first amendment guarantees me the right to speak. It doesn’t confer the obligation.

Bob’s last word: Most weeks, when writing KJR, I try to avoid the word “I” as much as possible, on the grounds that it isn’t all about me.

I promise that this week is an exception, not a change in direction.

Bob’s sales pitch: You knew this was coming, didn’t you? If you’re interested in engaging my services … from advice offered a day at a time through something more deep and organized … here’s how to contact me.

If you aren’t interested, that’s okay, but I still do ask that you let me know what you think of each week’s missive, and that you’ll acquaint your acquaintances with Keep the Joint Running. I continue to think of us as a community. My job is to suggest and disseminate ideas. Recruiting new members is up to you.