Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Appointing the Committee


"Do we have any volunteers?" 
What is this? A suicide mission? Why are you asking for volunteers? Get the people on the committee who can do the job. Believe me, many of the most talented people are very busy and they won't volunteer. You'll have to nudge them and a little begging might be needed.

"We want to make sure we have a good geographic representation."
Hold on. Home address is a key criterion for serving on the committee? You're not electing members of Congress. Go for competence, not geographic location. 

"And, of course, we want diversity."
I hope you're talking about intellectual diversity and not the gender, racial or flavor-of-the-month type. Is Ed an old guy, a Hispanic, a veteran, a father. or a guy who ruined his knees playing tennis? Stop using irrelevant group identifications and don't make it worse by saying that anyone represents a "community." They don't.

"Do we have enough people?"
If you've got eight, you are pushing the limit. Remember, it is easier to add people than to get people off.

"We can meet once a month."
Oh, it's one of those committees. How long do we have to get things done? A decade or two?

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