Most associations offering similar services or products are like cars traveling down the same highway. They might be different makes and models and they might be traveling at varying speeds and in different lanes, but all the cars are headed in the same direction. But here’s a universal truth: The more similar the services or products, the more important the differences.

And most associations and their offerings just blend into the freeway of endless, snarled traffic. Yet our brains are hardwired to notice only what’s different.

To move from outstanding to standing out, then, it’s not enough to go faster or change lanes or even get a new car. You need to exit the highway altogether and head in the opposite direction.

You need to make a U-turn.