[Chapter-delegates] Thanks for the very helpful open board session

[Walid AL-SAQAF]

Thanks again Dave for your frank and constructive comments.

The BoT is hearing you and I personally believe that we could together work
on addressing them through incremental and steady steps to develop a
WORKING bottom-up model.

As Jason and Gihan had indicated, the start is the Chapters Advisory
Council, which is heading in the right direction and has our support.

Sincerely,

Walid Al-Saqaf
Member of the Board of Trustees, ISOC

On Sun, Apr 10, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Gihan Dias <gihan at uom.lk> wrote:

> Dave,
>
> Thanks.
>
> I wish you all success in this effort.
>
> Gihan
>
> On 2016-04-10 පෙ.ව. 6:02, Dave Burstein wrote:
>
> Folks
>
> Bob Hinden and the board heard some important, frank comments. The other
> board members made clear they are thoughtful, dedicated and want an
> effective organization.
>
> A member of the Puerto Rico chapter declared ISOC is not bottom-up. There
> are two systems staff & chapters. He asked, "Will ISOC become a bottom-up
> org?"  Anyone who follows the email list knows this is a major problem. I
> believe most of the staff and the board agree that is the way to go.
>
> But a former board member tells me this has happened every two or three
> years for a decade. Despite good intentions, decisionmaking remains top
> down with a few executives powerful. Robert Atkinson explained to me how
> the FCC is controlled by a permanent government of the staff,
> "Commissioners come and go but we're still here."
>
> So I circulated two proposals that I believe can win support and be easily
> implemented. Watching the dynamic at the board, I realized it didn't even
> need a resolution. Bob Hinden as Chair can take President Kathy Brown aside
> for a few words. Brown has the skill and authority to make this work.
>
> Hinden might say, "Many of us on the board want better relations with the
> chapters. We have two proposals that in general make sense.
>
> First, that we review with the relevant chapters policy positions and
> alliances before they are made, unless there's no time. We have active
> mailing lists that can make it quick and easy. Every politician knows you
> get stronger support if you consult the people involved.
>
> Second, let's start providing the chapters some minimum funds for their
> operations. We do that very inefficiently now, with too much staff time
> involved with the requests. The chapters are unhappy needing to beg and
> cajole to get even small operating expenses. I think we can move quickly to
> distributing to the chapters say 3% of our budget. We need to be careful
> the program isn't abused, but I'm sure you can work closely with the
> chapters committee and get this well begun over the next month or two,"
>
> I hope Bob or some of the other board members make this happen. Even
> better, Brown has supported the principles here many times. It would be
> great if she led the change.
>
> Kathy, at board direction, has done a great job encouraging members to
> speak up. But the organization risks becoming a hollow shell if we don't
> respect our chapters. Let's start by sharing the (very modest) proposals
> here.
>
> I raised my hand too late but will make sure to be early for the session
> in the morning, (9:15 New York time)
>
> Dave Burstein
> New York Chapter
>
>
>
> --
> Editor, Fast Net News, Net Policy News and DSL Prime
> Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making It Great,
> Getting It Noticed (Peachpit)
>
>
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