Here is a note that I just sent to the staff mailing list (stuck in a queue at the moment, so some staff will see it here first.).
Hi everyone!
I am coming to San Francisco on Saturday for a few days to meet with a lot of you. I know many of you are not actually in San Francisco, so I'll be sure to set aside time for remote meetings as well.
By now you of course have heard that Lila is leaving us, and my hope is that we're going to enter a new era of stability and productivity. And for that to happen, the board - including me - needs to hear from you, to listen and learn.
Brion Vibber, who I hired as the first ever employee of the Foundation, said this to me on Facebook recently: "Jimmy Wales welcome back to the conversation. I look forward to how you address the current crisis, and hope it will involve the kind of careful listening and thoughtful consideration that I remember from 2001."
That's what I want, too. I want to listen and I want to help the board make good decisions.
For me, the mission - a free encyclopedia for every single person on the planet, in their own language - is what brought us all together. It's what keeps us going even in difficult times. But my view is that it doesn't have to be difficult times. Working at the WMF should be - and will be, I really think - a joy: the joy of working with the best colleagues, the joy of doing work that matters to the world, and the joy of working for the fantastic global community of Wikipedians.
I'll be reaching out to some of you - probably starting with people I already know - but please reach out to me as well if you'd like to meet.
I'm in SF from Saturday afternoon through Wednesday evening, so depending on demand, I may not be able to see everyone, but I'd like to get a good overview.
--Jimbo