My favorite complaint this month

"[Mensa has ] Too many overinflated egos .... I'm too intelligent for you folks."

Mission Statements

Sometimes I just read and muse about leadership in general. I occasionally pick up gems from the Acronym blog.

On March 17, there was a post about mission statements... which have always annoyed me as just pretty words that, although agreeable, carry as much practical governance use as "Air is good to breathe."

Anyway, this blog writer  wrote that he wanted

"something that will help me justify killing a program or choosing one idea over another."

Yes!

Use as many or as few pretty words as necessary, but come up with a mission / vision / strategic plan / mantra that can, in a very practical sense, guide the active decisions we need to make on a daily basis.

Does AML have such a thing? 

Hmmm......

Bulletin Directory & Gatherings Changes

A few people have noticed that the Directory and Gatherings listing in the Bulletin is less comprehensive than in past years. This was not a random change but was done with thought and intent. Our reasoning includes:

1) Because of the inconsistent timing of Local Groups’ elections and officer appointment schedules, the directory information is obsolete before the issue gets to the printer. While it is useful for traveler to find and locate SIGHT coordinators, it is just as likely that the names listed in the March issue will not be the same names one should contact in October. In general, however, at least LocSecs are diligent about knowing who in their group is handling which responsibilities and forwarding on information requests from outsiders.

2) Many Mensa volunteers have complained in recent years about privacy and have asked to NOT be listed in the available-to-the-public magazine.

3) Reducing the directory allowed us to cut 8 pages and improve readability. Multiply that by 55,000 issues, and we saved 440,000 pages. Between printing and postage, this decision saved Mensa approximately $11,717.

4) The Gatherings pages are considered advertising as long as they list a hotel and hotel rates. Since we are charged postage based on advertising percentages, these changes in the Gatherings should reduce our postage.

5) For the most part, we actually use all or almost all of the gatherings listings sent in. Even if we list every piece of information and include the ridiculously long Web addresses, members still have to go online, write someone, or make a phone call to move forward. All of that information is still printed. In fact, the hotel information (and the corresponding direct link) is just about all we leave out.

Note that we plan on doing a member-survey in the next month or so to gather feedback on all elements of the redesign, so that will provide data for future decisions and tweaks.

Crawling out of the Hole Part 2

(from the Statement of Financial Positions sent to the AMC each month)

December 31, 2009:
    Assets: $3,164,290.84
    Liabilities: $4,755,266.57
    Net Assets: ($1,590,975.73)

January 31, 2010:
    Assets: $3,815,135.89
    Liabilities: $5,400,791.25
    Net Assets: ($1,585,655.36)

Interesting.

Our assets went up significantly, but so did our liabilities. Of course, this is renewal season, so we will be seeing a huge inflow of income over the next couple of months, and with that a rise in liabilities, as those are primarily long term liabilities—money received but earmarked for future service to multi year and life members. Each month we move, on paper, some of those liabilities to income as we move through the year "serving" those multi-year members.

It is because of our uneven income and expense patterns mostly due to renewals during the last quarter that it's hard to really gauge the financial health of the organization based on looking at just the monthly statements. One really needs to look at the fiscal year as a whole.

That said, we're still creeping in the right direction: Net Assets were up from the previous month.

Consent Agenda

Accepting reports, some housekeeping, appointment of NomComm. Some discussion about concerns that there is no provision for alternates.

Conclusion--comments:

Elissa said we did good work.
Betsy fixed a date in her report.
Jean invited us to come early and stay late at the AG.
Guy thanks local group for hospitality and friendliness
Art expresses AMC's formal thanks to LaRae, Barbara, and Joan

Audience:
Clark Jones says we're still shuffling deck chairs regarding governance. Please consider alignment of the regions. Regarding the dashboard, that will help transparency. Phoenix Mensa lost an important member, Pat Hull, and it would be nice for Elissa to send a note of condolence.

Fred (dunno his last name)-- you were all very polite to each other. It was refreshing. regarding NomComm--we're all smart enough and don't need a committee telling us how to think about candidates.

Done. I am so tired!

NomComm and Past Chairs

Item C8: Mark's changes to the Nom Comm. Basically that the NomComm should be doing a little bit of vetting of candidates, based on pre-established criteria for each position. Jean is suggesting several edits to this complex motion. My eyes are glazing over. Concerns about the NomComm list of people they did NOT approve being released to the general membership.

Motion for Becker's amendment taking out the list of who they did not bless passed. I am too lazy to type who voted how. sorry. Not close, but not a landslide. I voted for this amendment.

Now discussing the vetting concept. Norris: What is objective about "record of proven achievement?" Betsy & Conti change "best qualified" to "well qualified." Lederman points out that with this system, it is possible that the NomComm turns down, as unqualified, all candidates for a particular office.

Motion Passes (Nays: Norris Lederman Pannke-Smith)


Item C9 Motion about removing Past Chair and Past Past Chair

Norris wishes to postpone until report of Governance Task Force. Motion to postpone passes (Nay: Crawford, Bevard, Sanford)