As Patricio stated the "Board has a responsibility to ... ensure that the Board functions with *mutual confidence*"
My fellow trustees need no reason beyond lack of trust in me to justify my removal. No reason beyond that is needed per our board by laws.
There was not any COI or legal impropriety on my part. I have done what I believe is in the best interest of our movement. I hope Patricio and I can work together to provide greater explanation in the coming days.
James,
Thank you for framing the issue. In the absence of any alternative claim, let me respond to the "trust" issue.
"Trust" is not a thing in itself. One person trusts another with a certain responsibility, or to accomplish a certain task. An unqualified "I trust you" is generally the kind of thing uttered only in marriage ceremonies.
So, there are several kinds of trust I am now thinking about, and I hope to hear from other Board members: * Do they mistrust your integrity? (If so, they should say so, even if the law or their duties prevent them from saying more.) * Do they mistrust your commitment to our shared mission and vision, and what's left of our strategy? (Same -- they should say as much) * Do they mistrust your willingness to rubber-stamp votes that other Trustees support? (If that is the reason, that would be a horrible miscarriage of their responsibility, and my own trust in the Board's ability to carry out its duties would be seriously shaken)
I also look forward to hearing much more substance from the Board. While I agree that too much haste would be a bad thing, that principle only goes so far. I will be measuring the time in hours, not days. -Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]]
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 5:39 PM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com wrote:
As Patricio stated the "Board has a responsibility to ... ensure that the Board functions with *mutual confidence*"
My fellow trustees need no reason beyond lack of trust in me to justify my removal. No reason beyond that is needed per our board by laws.
There was not any COI or legal impropriety on my part. I have done what I believe is in the best interest of our movement. I hope Patricio and I can work together to provide greater explanation in the coming days.
-- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine www.opentextbookofmedicine.com _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 8:39 PM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com wrote:
As Patricio stated the "Board has a responsibility to ... ensure that the Board functions with *mutual confidence*"
My fellow trustees need no reason beyond lack of trust in me to justify my removal. No reason beyond that is needed per our board by laws.
There was not any COI or legal impropriety on my part. I have done what I believe is in the best interest of our movement. I hope Patricio and I can work together to provide greater explanation in the coming days.
-- James Heilman
Why be cute about it, then? Just say what happened and leave the games to others.
Hey Doc,
The community wants to know about what happened. I think, you need to talk about this.
Regards, Bodhisattwa On 29 Dec 2015 07:25, "Nathan" nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 8:39 PM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com wrote:
As Patricio stated the "Board has a responsibility to ... ensure that the Board functions with *mutual confidence*"
My fellow trustees need no reason beyond lack of trust in me to justify
my
removal. No reason beyond that is needed per our board by laws.
There was not any COI or legal impropriety on my part. I have done what I believe is in the best interest of our movement. I hope Patricio and I
can
work together to provide greater explanation in the coming days.
-- James Heilman
Why be cute about it, then? Just say what happened and leave the games to others. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Bodhisattwa and Nathan,
If I imagine myself in James' shoes, I would be thinking a lot right now about: * What are my legal obligations around what I may or may not say * What are the difficult-to-predict consequences to WMF, to Wikimedia, and/or to oneself of saying various things * What obligation I have to speak, when no charge against me has been made (at least publicly), and when my term as a trustee is now over
Speaking for myself, if I were James, I would not be rushing into any public statement.
The people we need most to hear from right now are the eight people who made a mysterious decision. The two people who opposed the decision might or might have interesting responses -- I too am curious to hear what they will say. But it's the majority and/or chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board we need most to hear from.
-Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]]
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 6:05 PM, Bodhisattwa Mandal < bodhisattwa.rgkmc@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey Doc,
The community wants to know about what happened. I think, you need to talk about this.
Regards, Bodhisattwa On 29 Dec 2015 07:25, "Nathan" nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 8:39 PM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com wrote:
As Patricio stated the "Board has a responsibility to ... ensure that
the
Board functions with *mutual confidence*"
My fellow trustees need no reason beyond lack of trust in me to justify
my
removal. No reason beyond that is needed per our board by laws.
There was not any COI or legal impropriety on my part. I have done
what I
believe is in the best interest of our movement. I hope Patricio and I
can
work together to provide greater explanation in the coming days.
-- James Heilman
Why be cute about it, then? Just say what happened and leave the games to others. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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Hi all -
I have to start this email with a pair of disclaimers: I'm both not a lawyer, and I've never been on the board of an organization headquartered in Florida. However, I have been on multiple California-based boards - none that had nearly the revenue of WMF, but some whose assets did run in to the mid-double millions, with revenues in the lower double digit millions. I can't assert that the knowledge and training I received about a board member's fiduciary duty and obligation to ensure that our board members functioned with 'mutual confidence' in each other equates to the same obligation that WMF trustees are bound by. However, in our context, 'mutual confidence' certainly did not mean that we had mutual confidence all of our duly appointed board members would agree with us on all issues we considered important - or even that we have confidence that we would be able to meet agreements that were, in our opinions, fair compromises between all of our interests. It meant something else entirely; that we retained mutual confidence that our fellow board members would uphold their own fiduciary duties to the organization - which didn't necessarily mean agreeing with us, but meant strenuously supporting their own ideas about what would be best for the organization, even if they disagreed with our own.
Although I'm sure WMF board members received both extensive, and different (given the locales) training than we did, but for us at least, it would've been highly unusual for one of us to try to remove a board member, especially one at-large, simply for strongly advocating their own viewpoint - it would've been more typical if there were allegations of financial malfeasance, CoI issues, etc. It makes me a bit nervous to see one of only three trustees directly elected by the community and whose platform seemed to be pretty heavily supported removed with so few details about the reasoning behind the decision other than the idea that mutual confidence had become an issue.
Best, KG
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 6:34 PM, Pete Forsyth peteforsyth@gmail.com wrote:
Bodhisattwa and Nathan,
If I imagine myself in James' shoes, I would be thinking a lot right now about:
- What are my legal obligations around what I may or may not say
- What are the difficult-to-predict consequences to WMF, to Wikimedia,
and/or to oneself of saying various things
- What obligation I have to speak, when no charge against me has been made
(at least publicly), and when my term as a trustee is now over
Speaking for myself, if I were James, I would not be rushing into any public statement.
The people we need most to hear from right now are the eight people who made a mysterious decision. The two people who opposed the decision might or might have interesting responses -- I too am curious to hear what they will say. But it's the majority and/or chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board we need most to hear from.
-Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]]
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 6:05 PM, Bodhisattwa Mandal < bodhisattwa.rgkmc@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey Doc,
The community wants to know about what happened. I think, you need to
talk
about this.
Regards, Bodhisattwa On 29 Dec 2015 07:25, "Nathan" nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 8:39 PM, James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com
wrote:
As Patricio stated the "Board has a responsibility to ... ensure that
the
Board functions with *mutual confidence*"
My fellow trustees need no reason beyond lack of trust in me to
justify
my
removal. No reason beyond that is needed per our board by laws.
There was not any COI or legal impropriety on my part. I have done
what I
believe is in the best interest of our movement. I hope Patricio and
I
can
work together to provide greater explanation in the coming days.
-- James Heilman
Why be cute about it, then? Just say what happened and leave the games
to
others. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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Hello everybody.
What grieves me most is that this edit was done by only a few people, however powerful [1] And to make this edit a lot of work and far more trust was involved... [2]
[1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Board_of_Trustees&diff... [2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Board_of_Trustees&diff...
Best regards, antanana Board member of Wikimedia Ukraine
2015-12-29 3:39 GMT+02:00 James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com:
As Patricio stated the "Board has a responsibility to ... ensure that the Board functions with *mutual confidence*"
My fellow trustees need no reason beyond lack of trust in me to justify my removal. No reason beyond that is needed per our board by laws.
There was not any COI or legal impropriety on my part. I have done what I believe is in the best interest of our movement. I hope Patricio and I can work together to provide greater explanation in the coming days.
-- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine www.opentextbookofmedicine.com _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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