[Chapter-delegates] Services, staff considerations, and so forth (was Re: ISOC LIVE - the reports of its death are exaggerated, but..)

[Andrew Sullivan]

Dear colleagues, and Christian in particular,

On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 12:41:54PM +0000, Christian de Larrinaga via Chapter-delegates wrote:
>
>My experience in recent months is caught by a few mixed messages. On serious policy
>initiatives. ISOC does seem happy and want our voice and
>perspectives. But it is inconsistent and there's a considerable amount
>of yoyoing around that interface not from staff we are working with but
>from somewhere behind them. Obviously we want to support and encourage very good
>people who have a demanding day job at ISOC. We value their work and
>engagement.

This seems like a pretty serious allegation, and yet it's cloaked in mystery and insinuation.  If there is an actual issue you have, I would appreciate a direct conversation about it.  Obviously, there might be sensitivities about particular contexts, or particular employees, and for those reasons I think it would be more appropriate to take such a discussion off a list of wide distribution.  I believed we had a conversation about this when I visited in London, but given the above insinuations it sounds to me like the issue has not been addressed adequately.  I cannot tackle a problem I don't know about.

>seriously as and when a senior ISOC leader walks in without so much as a nudge or a
>wink to us.

As I said when we met in London and as I followed up in notes to this list, we work very hard to co-ordinate positions within a country with the local chapter(s).  The Internet Society positions are _organization_ positions, and when any "senior leader" shows up anywhere, such a person had better be reflecting the positions of the Internet Society, and not freelancing some independent view.  (If you are aware of a problem in this respect, I would very much appreciate knowing about it.)  It is of course sometimes the case that we do not agree with a chapter on a particular matter. But in general, we do, and there should not be any surprise about what anyone from the Internet Society is saying on a topic in a country.  That does not mean that the Internet Society should always show up with chapter representatives for any meeting or event.  This is in part because the chapters _are_ independent, and so we cannot tell them what to do or say.  Failing to respect that boundary would blur this line.

Best regards,

A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan, President & CEO, Internet Society
e:sullivan at isoc.org m:+1 416 731 1261
Help protect the Internet for everyone:
https://www.internetsociety.org/donate/