Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Greener's Law? - unknown to the Board

"Never buy ink from a man who buys ink from the barrel."

Sometimes called Greener's Law, the origin of this sentence is in question. One website article identifies several possible sources.

I thought about that phrase after last night's board meeting ended. Several trustees thought they might have gotten the last word.

Wrong.

It's generally not a good idea to argue with a person who writes a blog. I'm generally polite and respectful, unlike Amelia McKie, James Shadd and Cheryl Caution-Parker. And unlike the superintendent's demeaning comment to Trustee Agostini.

If I were on the board of directors of a business and the president spoke to me in public as Baron Davis did to Trustee Agostini, that president would soon be looking for a new job.

Of course, if the board of directors was stacked the way the Richland 2 School Board is, I expect I'd be the Lone Ranger.

I was on a steering committee of a large networking group in Denver, and the six of us got along well. Each person did his or her own job, without assistance or supervision, for more than a year. My role was emcee and treasurer. Over a period of time we began voting on issues and items, and I noticed the votes were 5-1, 5-1, 5-1. Guess who the "1" was.

Then the five wanted to incorporate and elect officers. I asked "Why?" Every week 125 men and women showed up for our Tuesday meeting. We were often SRO. "Why fix something that's not broken?

We engaged a mediator for a Sunday wrangle. One assignment she gave us was to
1. Write down the purpose of Win/Win Forum.
2. Look around and go sit with people with whom you are aligned.

I wrote out my definition of the Purpose. I stood up, looked around and sat back down - by myself. The mediator came to my table and asked if I had understood the assignment. (Yes). Had I done it? (Yes)  Then she read what I had written and said, "Well, that's what this group is about."

To which I responded, "And now you know why you are here.

The group did incorporate and elected officers; I stopped attending. The weekly attendance dropped from 125 to 40.It continued for another 3-4 years with low attendance and then ended.

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