In the digital world, is there really value differentiation between what associations offer and what is available from the abundance of content sources, and social media connections? The table stakes are high as traditional communications, networking, advocacy, and education are all being redefined in a globally mobile connected world. Are associations truly innovating or merely following the herd? This CEO panel from the 2013 Digital Now conference examined the key principles and issues explored in Youngme Moon’s book “Different,” in exploring how marketers incrementally focus on the same opportunities as everyone else and consequently lose sight of their mandate, which is to create meaningful grooves of separation or differentiation. Is this happening in associations as well, and are their ways to escape the “competitive herd” that Moon describes? When it comes to thriving in an age of widespread uncertainty and rapid-fire innovation, the only thing more worrisome than the prospect of too much experimentation and change may be the reality of too little experimentation and change. There are too many competitors wearing non-profit or for profit hats with products and services that look too much alike.