[Chapter-delegates] Charles Mok's "We must do better" changes everything

[Dave Burstein]

Buried 30 messages deep in a thread, a courageous board member writes

"This discussion is healthy and beneficial to the organization. The
management and the board need to hear, acknowledge, respect and respond to
voices from the community with humility. The strong reaction in support of
Joly also is a strong justification for his continued loyalty, service and
dedication to ISOC. While I echo what my fellow trustees Luis and Caleb
have said about the roles of the trustees in relation to the management and
its work and decisions, what has been expressed so far in this thread, I
personally believe, should warrant ISOC management and board to revisit
such decisions over staffing and cost-saving for the current case and any
future situations. We must do better. The Internet is for everyone, and
ISOC is for everyone too, and that, I believe, must begin from listening.
Your views expressed will not be in vain, because they have enabled and
empowered us to make corrections where they need to be made.

Thank you,
Charles Mok
Trustee, ISOC and fellow volunteer"

Eloquent and important. Let's collaborate and make it so.

More than a dozen members urged reinstatement of our streaming service.
Andrew is correct viewership is low, but that could be due to our failure
to promote it. Vint is stepping up.

Listening is the first step towards actively collaborating, which Ted calls
for. (Some prefer the term multi-stakeholder.)

The tradition at ISOC is the board delegates to the CEO and doesn't
micromanage.  Usually sensible, with the CEO responsive to the membership.
It's often been said we are a "bottom-up multi-stakeholder association." We
all know that's not how it's working.

But the board has all the authority under U.S. law. It's expected to step
in when needed.

ISOC is in crisis. Our membership is roughly flat while Internet users have
doubled. Our chapters and members are so discouraged they rarely
contribute.
    Our advocacy is ineffective based on all public information. Our
reports note the dominance of a few giant companies but our actions never
address the problems created.
    The Arab World and East Asia are essentially unrepresented. That's more
than a one-third of the Internet. Our board and senior staff remain mostly
from the U.S. Two thirds of Internet users are in the global South. We've
failed to reach out to them and our work does not support them.

A Better ISOC is Possible

Dave
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