LOPSA board elections are upon us. The candidate statements are being published and before I read any of them I want to make this statement of my own:*
It is my experience with volunteer organizations that people that have achieved tangible results are more likely to produce more tangible results. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Everyone has ideas. They pour in from everywhere. Don't worry about electing "idea people"; a group of LOPSA's size only needs 1-2 "vision" people but a lot of "do'ers". Elect people that have a track record of getting things done.
Years ago when I was in college there was a student government election. At the "debate night" the two candidates for president had an interesting exchange. The first candidate listed his vast experience: his list of accomplishments was a list of committees he had served on. The other candidate asked him, "But what have you DONE? What on this campus can you point at and say, 'I did that'? You know how there weren't soda machines in the dorm buildings until last year? That was me. I went door to door in the administration building, got everyone to approve it, helped pick a vendor, and so on. When I walk around campus I can point to those machines and say, 'I did that.' What can you point to?" The other candidate had nothing to point to except the chair he had filled in all those various committee meetings. The soda machine guy won the election. He was the best damn student government president we had in years.
This is not to say that idea people aren't friendly, wonderful people. I'm just saying that as a new-ish organization LOPSA kind of knows what needs to be done: it's the "doing" that is important.
I'm not endorsing anyone. I'm not telling you who to vote for. I'm simply saying that this is my formula. You can consider it open source. You can use it, modify it or even ignore it. Just remember that it was pretty damn nice to have soda machines finally in the dorm buildings.
Tom Limoncelli
- Damn, I read one... kind of by mistake. ..but it won't change my vote.
