Gavin Chait wrote:
In response to Anthony and other related posts:
Someone is needed to bootstrap the
organization ... I think it's important to make it
clear that this isn't a permanent position, though. In part, because
it's dangerous to assign such a position when you really have no clue
what the position is
One thing I think is important though is the
interim CEO should be
made aware that a big part of eir job is going to be explaining eir
actions to the entire membership
So far the CEO / COO / Director *interim* position can be summarised as
follows:
"We need help real fast. We don't know what help we need and would like you
to tell us. Please don't ruffle any feathers. Don't do anything without
telling everyone in the community. We'll get back to you about what we
decide."
So, appointing an *interim* CEO / COO / Director will have a result
equivalent to not appointing an *interim* CEO / COO / Director. The core
problem: "We don't know what to do next and we need help deciding what to
do," won't have been solved and can't be solved until the board and
community decide.
Gavin, I really love to read you. I find a lot of insight in what you
say. I appreciate you share your experience with us.
At the same time, I must tell you that if some of what you suggest is
very much "to the point" and will certainly suggest some changes to
bring, in other cases, you are just aside the point.
You are sometimes holding some ideas which are so far from our daily
reality that it is actually funny ;-) The "core" problem you are citing
above is not the core problem.
>You've given your own suggestions above, but
what is the board going
>to do, say "hey, Gavin Chait said this is how we should do it, so lets
>go with it"? I don't think it's going to happen.
No :-)
Why not? I have 15 years experience in South Africa
developing and running
non-profit organisations in fields as diverse as HIV / AIDS, education and
small business development. I've worked with student-run, university-based
organisations, corporate funded ones, and institutional versions. I have
fund-raised, written proposals, developed ideas and implemented them. Some
of my ideas even work.
I am quite certain of that, but before us doing what you suggest doing,
you will need to discover more about the internal life of the
Foundation. Don't get me wrong : I am sure you have a lot to bring. But
you may need to accept that what you are thinking as factual... is maybe
not so factual.
I'm probably not the only person with this sort of
experience on this list
but I do have some idea of what it takes to run a self-sustaining non-profit
social benefit organisation.
So why not listen to my suggestions? They are my opinions, based on my
experiences. They are freely and honestly given. I don't have all the
answers but I may be able to save you some bother.